


Uncharted: Jamshid's Cup

by faierius



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Brief character death, Fun, Gen, Hints of Nathan and Elena, Holy Grail, Original Character - Freeform, Plot, Sarcasm, but they're okay, plot heavy, pre Sam, real artifact, treasures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-14 15:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10539585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faierius/pseuds/faierius
Summary: Nothing is ever simple when Nathan Drake is involved.Hired by a young man named Jayden Risyn to recover part of his Granddad's collection, Nate finds something interesting among the catalogue of items. A seven ridged bowl that may be the original Holy Grail. The Cup of Jamshid. It strikes his interest more than any trinket Jayden wants him to find.The young man agrees to let him look into the item, as long as he'll do the job he's hired for afterward. But of course wherever Nathan Drake goes, trouble follows, and things get even worse when the supernatural is involved.





	1. Another Day, Another Dollar

**Author's Note:**

> When I first wrote this, I posted it over on fanfiction.net. Since then, I reworked it and posted it on Wattpad. I have decided that I ought to post it here as well since it is fanfiction. Even if it's not of the smutty kind.

"Damn, these guys are persistent," Nathan Drake complained, shaking dirt from his hair. He punctuated the statement by sending a bitter glare in the direction of his traveling companion.

"I said I was sorry!" the young man declared, shrinking away from another explosion.

"And _I_ said wear a hat!" Drake shot back, shifting his glare up to the bright red spikes the kid called hair. It was like he forgot how to dress when he reached his belly button. He wore black boots and olive colored pants, but his tee shirt was a shade of purple so violent it stung Drake's eyes. And it clashed with the mess on his head.

"Christ!" The kid's arms shot up to cover his head.

Rolling his eyes, Drake leveled his pilfered rifle on a low grassy outcropping. Scanning the area, he spotted the moron with the grenade launcher and picked him off. Beside him, his companion sighed heavily as he slouched behind the hill they were using as cover. His hair still stuck above the grass.

"You're the one who wanted to tag along."

"Yeah, but I figured the inevitable danger would come later rather than sooner."

"Just keep in mind I'll be very unhappy if I have to mount a rescue mission, so don't get kidnapped. Or shot," grumbled Drake.

The familiar _blam_ of a shotgun echoed through the ringing still in Drake's ears, though it sounded too far off to do much damage. The kid's yelp on the other hand, was right in his ear. Looking over, he saw blood dribbling down the man's bicep from the superficial wound.

"What did I _just_ say?" Drake demanded, returning fire.

"Sorry," he muttered through clenched teeth.

"You take a shot well for a rookie," Drake observed, a tad impressed. The kid pulled his blood slick sleeve away from the wound. It may only be a graze from the shot, but Drake was familiar enough with gun related injuries to know they all hurt like hell.

"Not actually my first bullet wound," he said, pulling a roll of gauze from one of the pockets of his cargo pants.

Drake's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Oh?"

"Can we save the story for another time? Like when people aren't shooting at us?" the kid asked, eyes darting around as he tied the gauze. He spotted better cover and moved for it. With a sort of somersault forward roll to get across open ground, he rose to his knees and pressed his back against the remnants of a stone wall. The wall was at least a few centuries past its prime, and wouldn't hold up against heavy gunfire.

Frowning, Drake turned his attention back to the bad guys. Firing at the men trying to move to their location, he didn't notice the grenade until it was almost too late. He dove away from the explosive, but the concussive force still tossed him roughly into the trunk of a nearby tree. He was lucky that was all it did. If he had been any closer, he would have been hamburger.

"Crap," he wheezed, rolling onto his back. The ringing in his ears had returned tenfold, his eyes stung, and he was pretty sure he didn't have any non-bruised skin left on his body.

Lying still, he waited for his world to stop spinning and the stars to fade from his vision before opening his eyes. The first thing he saw was the business end of an M-16.

"Crap," he repeated as a pair of big guys hauled him none-too-gently to his feet. "You aren't taking us to jail, are you? 'Cause I've spent time in a Turkish prison, and it wasn't a whole lot of fun. Oh, and there was the Panamanian –whoa! Getting a little too friendly there, Tiny." Drake took a half-step back as the absurdly muscular man's pat down took an intimate turn.

"Shut up," growled the man with the M-16 as he slammed his fist into Drake's cheek.

"Ow." Drake spit out a mouthful of blood and flexed his jaw. There didn't seem to be any damage other than a small cut where the inside of his cheek and his teeth had a disagreement. And probably a new bruise on his old bruises. "We don't have anything you guys could possibly want."

"Hayden won't care," the gun guy stated.

The kid rolled his eyes as they searched him. "Great," he drawled.

Drake didn't care for that tone. "So, who's Hayden?" he asked as Gunboy and Muscles gave them a shove to get them moving.

"He's the brother I was telling you about."

"...Crap."

 

_~One Week Earlier~_

 

Tipping his beer bottle to his lips, Nate took a sip and set it down with a content sigh. His cuts and bruises had finally healed, he could move without wincing, and the persistent headache was finally gone. All that remained was the little voice in the back of his mind telling him how stupid he had been for joining Sully on this last trip. From the get-go, he _knew_ it was going to go horribly wrong. It had. But he was glad he had been there to keep an eye on his old friend.

Shaking his head, his lips curved into a smirk. The look on Sully's face when they found that pile of gold and jewels had been priceless. Too bad he didn't bring a camera.

Nate took another swig from his bottle.

"Excuse me, are you Nathan Drake?"

Turning his head, Nate looked over his shoulder at the young man who approached him. His red hair was just as hard on the eyes as his canary yellow shirt. The guy's face suggested immaturity and vacancy, but the way he carried himself said something entirely different.

He blinked at the kid. "Depends on who's askin'," he eventually replied, turning back to his beer. There was quiet shuffling behind him, and a rectangular piece of paper appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Jayden Risyn."

Scowling, Nate took the card between his index and middle finger. "Risyn? Why does that sound familiar?" he asked, glancing up at the kid.

"My father runs a profitable antiquities business."

Nate slowly straightened his spine, turning on his stool to face the kid. "Michael Risyn is your dad? You poor bastard," he chuckled, extending his hand.

Accepting the handshake, Jayden grinned. "He's not all bad."

"So what does the old guy want me to find this time? The Holy Grail? Noah's Ark?" Nate leaned on the bar, propping his elbows on the wood surface.

Taking a seat next to Nathan, Jayden mimed the other man's posture and frowned. He glanced at the bartender, offering a tight smile. "Actually, I'm not here on his behalf. I'd like to hire you for something personal. Dad doesn't know anything about it."

Nate quirked a brow. Michael Risyn knew about everything, and it was always a scheme to get more money with him.

The kid glanced around nervously. "Do you think we could talk about this elsewhere? I'd rather not take the chance on eavesdroppers."

Shrugging, Nate finished his beer and paid his tab. He didn't think it would hurt to hear the kid out. "Got a location in mind?"

"I've got a room at the hotel down the street. If you're worried I might have people waiting to ambush you, don't be. I'm working completely on my own."

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Nate's brows twitched. He hadn't even thought about that. The kid didn't give off any malicious vibes, and he didn't seem devious or smart enough to plan ahead like that, anyway.

"I'm sorry about tracking you down like this," Jayden said as they headed up to the hotel suite.

"How did you, if you don't mind my asking. This little town is kind of out of the way."

Jayden gave him a sly smirk. "I've got methods," he answered. "Can I get you a drink or anything?" Opening the door to his room, Jayden let them inside.

Nate shook his head, sitting down on one of the overstuffed white couches taking up space in the sitting area. This place was a high-end suite, more apartment than hotel room. He didn't think low-profile was in this guy's vocabulary.

"If you're concerned about eavesdroppers, why pick such a high-class place that pretty much guarantees a tail?" he asked, picking up a gaudy throw pillow like it was an example of some sort.

"I took precautions."

"Then let's get to the point, shall we?"

Stooping over, Jayden rummaged through the duffel bag on the floor beside the opposite couch. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out a plain folder and a well-worn leather bound book. Sitting down heavily on the second couch, he slid the items across the glass top coffee table to Nate.

"This is the Risyn Journal. Basically a glorified log book of the items our family has recovered over the years. And these are photos of a collection we're actively trying to locate. I'm after two specific items."

Flipping the folder open, Nate shuffled through the contents. A couple photos had notes scribbled on them, but one was circled with red marker. It depicted a beautifully crafted statue of an Oriental-style dragon, carved from ruby with gold inlays. It was pretty, but standard fare for the era.

Jayden watched Nate carefully while he studied the pictures. The disinterest was clear on his face. "This one I want for sentimental reasons," he explained, tapping the picture of the dragon statue. He slid pictures across the table, fanning them out until he found the one he thought was more important. "This is the one both my Granddad and Great-Granddad spend most of their lives searching for. At least, part of what they searched for."

Nate narrowed his eyes at the picture. He didn't know what he was supposed to be looking at, but it seemed much less significant than the dragon. It was no bigger than a dollar coin, gold, and had engravings on both sides. Unfortunately, after years of wear, the engravings were impossible to identify.

"What is it?" Nate asked, glancing up at Jayden from under his eyebrows.

"I believe it's part of _Brisingamen_ ," Jayden answered as though it meant something.

One eyebrow slid upward. "And that is?" The name sounded Norse, but it was outside his area of expertise.

Jayden smiled. "Freya's treasured necklace."

"Freya? As in _wife of Odin_?" The other eyebrow joined the first.

"The one and only. If this little piece of gold is what I think it is, it's priceless." Jayden took the old journal back and flicked through the pages. Stopping at a page marked with a photo, he pulled it out and handed it to Nate. "Here's a print of a painting of Freya wearing the necklace."

Nate took the print, placing it next to the photo of the gold piece. He stared at each one for a few seconds. "I'm not convinced. Could be what you say, could be a simple coin. And you say two people spent their lives looking for it but nothing turned up? Pass. What else ya got?" He slid the photos back across the table and met Jayden's gaze.

The kid scowled, flipping through the journal. "All I really want is the dragon, but maybe something else in here will motivate you," he sighed, tossing more photos at Nate.

Nathan shuffled through the new stack, seeing a lot of run-of-the-mill items. Gold coins, jewels, old weapons, art...nothing really stood out, however. It would take something spectacular to convince him to work for a Risyn again, and he was about to turn the kid down when one of the pictures caught his eye. The item depicted was a flat, elongated bowl with seven ridges. It was plain, any former luster worn away by hundreds of years of handling. For some reason, this item spoke to him. He wanted it.

Letting out a breath, Nate tossed the photos back on the coffee table.

Mistaking the expression on Nathan's face for one of negativity, Jayden lifted his hands, silently pleading with the man to hear him out. "Before you turn me down, let me tell you how much I am willing to pay for recovery of the dragon."

Nate let Jayden think whatever he wanted. "I'm not a cheap date."

"A hundred grand, plus expenses."

Nate shrugged his eyebrows. He had bills to pay, just like everyone, and the amount was a decent one. The dragon probably wasn't even worth as much. "Something tells me this won't be as simple as you think," he commented.

Jayden made a face, grimacing. "It really depends on my brother. He wants the dragon, too. But he's got more money and resources than I do. He's been recovering pieces and selling them at triple their value. He's making absurd amounts of money, and has mercenaries on speed dial," he grumbled, scowling at the journal.

"So what's the deal with this collection, anyway? A lot of stuff in here isn't worth much, and it's kind of an odd mix. There's no way your dad would waste time with half of it."

"It never used to be that way. Our family has always had a passion for old things, no matter the value. This is a personal collection which isn't supposed to be for sale. When my Granddad was moving to the States, the collection was stolen and sold off. We've been working on recovering the pieces over the years," the kid explained, dragging a hand through his spiked hair. Nate was surprised it had any give at all with all the product that had to be in it.

Leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees, Nate motioned with his chin to the photo on top of the pile. "What about the bowl?"

"What? Why that one? There's really nothing special about it."

Nate gave a shake of his head. "If your brother is as money hungry as you say, and knows his history, he'll be after this piece."

"It's junk!"

Smirking, Nate picked up the glossy image and held it out to Jayden. "Just because it isn't shiny, doesn't mean it isn't valuable. Ever watched _The Last Crusade_?"

Jayden gaped. "What does this have to do with a movie?"

Nate flopped back on the couch and stifled a groan. "Do you want my help, or not?"

The kid's lip twitched into a half-sneer. Stuffing the images back into the folder, he wrinkled up his nose. "'Course I do. I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of tracking you down if I didn't."

"Then we'll do things my way. I'll help you with your dragon if you indulge me and let me check this bowl out. What do you have on it?"

Sighing heavily, Jayden grumbled something under his breath and pulled out his cell phone. Dialing a number, he put the phone to his ear and waited. When the call went through, he answered without a greeting. "Yeah, I need to know about that ridged bowl." He fell silent for a moment, said okay a couple of times, gave his thanks, and hung up. "Apparently an item fitting the description of the bowl turned up at a shop in Hopa, Turkey."

"That was fast. But yet your brother has more resources than you? Yeesh." Pushing himself to his feet, Nate headed for the door. "Hope your passport is up to date."

"Where are you going?" Jayden asked, standing as well.

"I need to make some calls," Nate replied, one hand on the doorknob, the other in his pocket.

Jayden picked up a pen and quickly scribbled something on a scrap of paper. "Meet me at this address tomorrow. We'll leave at dawn," Jayden said, handing him the paper. It was the address of a private airstrip.

Nodding, Nate slipped the paper into his back pocket. "Make sure you pack a hat or something."

"Why?"

Nate directed a pointed look at Jayden's hair. He shook his head and let himself out of the suite. He walked back to the bar with the intent of having another drink. Changing his mind, he hailed a cab to head back to his own hotel. Giving the driver the address, he took out his own disposable phone to make his first call.


	2. Getting Started

"Okay, Kid. What's so important you had to call me away from my prior engagement?" Victor Sullivan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Chuckling quietly, Nate shook his head. Sully's only prior engagement was trying to convince the desk clerk to get a drink with him. "I'm gonna ask you a dumb question, okay?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Ignoring the quip, Nate asked his question. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've heard of the Holy Grail?"

"You'd have to be living pretty deep under a rock to not have," Sully replied, pulling a cigar from his breast pocket. Nate was grateful the man decided not to light it because they had to be one of the worst things he had ever smelled.

"Do you know the supposed origin story of the Grail?" Nate now asked, mouth curving upward on one side.

Brow furrowed, Sully looked across the table at Nate. "That I'm a little fuzzier on," he replied, putting the cigar in his mouth and speaking around it.

"You wouldn't be alone," Nate said. "Back when the Persian Empire was still in existence, there was a king named Jamshid. According to legend, he was in power for _centuries_. He had a seven ringed cup called the _Jām-e Jam_. Supposedly it contained an elixir of immortality which also allowed him to observe the universe.

"As you can imagine, the power went to Jamshid's head. People rebelled, as they do. He fled the capital, but the people were so pissed at him they tracked him down and killed him. Brutally, I might add. The _Jām-e Jam_ went missing after that and has been missing ever since. I think it's resurfaced." Smiling, Nate leaned back in his chair, crossing his own arms.

"So this..." Sully waved his hand vaguely.

" _Jām-e Jam_."

"It's basically the original Grail? And you've set your sights on it." Sully frowned, pulling the cigar out of his mouth again and stroking his mustache. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you how crazy that sounds, Nate."

Spreading his arms wide, palms up, Nate smirked. "Hey, we thrive on crazy. If we didn't, half the stuff we've uncovered would still be lost."

Sully mimed Nate's expression. "I guess you have a point, Kid. So care to tell me how you came across this thing?"

"Remember Michael Risyn?"

Sully groaned, rolling his eyes. "A name synonymous with wild goose."

"His kid wants me to find something for him. He was showing me some pictures of a collection the Risyn's were trying to track down and it caught my eye. Even if it's nothing, all I have to do is track down a ruby dragon statue and its a hundred thousand in my pocket." While the money was nice, Nate was more interested in hunting down a legend.

Sully didn't even react to the amount. It was chump change compared to some of the treasures they had to give up over the years. Smoothing his mustache, he sighed and propped and elbow on the table. He watched cars pass by the cafe for a few seconds before turning back to his friend.

"So, how do you know this picture was of the _Jām-e Jam_?"

"The design was right, and it looked older than dirt. Of course, I won't know anything until I get my hands on the actual object," Nate replied with a one-shouldered shrug.

"Looking never hurt anyone. Where are you headed?"

"Turkey. You in?"

"I'm still healing from the last romp. You forget I got decades on you, Kid," Sully said with a dry chuckle.

"Suit yourself."

 

~oOo~

 

Standing on the tarmac with a duffle bag in hand, Nate gave the sad excuse for an aircraft a long, hard stare. Casting a sideways glance at Jayden, he wrinkled up his nose. "You're rich, yet this is the best you could do?"

A prideful smile lit up Jayden's features. He beamed at the tin can with wings. "She may not be pretty, but she's sturdy. Flew 'er to Botswana last month, in fact."

"You flew it?"

"Sure did!"

Nate's lip curled. "Great." He didn't enjoy flying in these things at the best of times, even with Sully at the yoke. Things went wrong far too often for his liking, and crashes were not as foreign to him as he would have preferred. Suffice it to say, Nate was less than thrilled.

He trudged along behind Jayden, cramming his bag behind the seat before hoisting himself into the little two-seater. Jayden climbed in beside him and did a pre-flight check. When the engine sputtered to life, Nate suppressed a chill of dread at the sound. Biting back a comment, he buckled himself in and put on his headset. As the plane rolled forward, he couldn't help himself any longer.

"This thing has parachutes, right?"

Jayden's mouth twisted to one side in thought. "There might be one or two," he finally answered with a grin, easing the yoke back.

"Might be?"

The grin only grew wider.

 

~oOo~

 

It had been a few years since Nate had been in Turkey, but he always enjoyed the mixture of modern and traditional found here. This was his first time in Hopa, but the mix was here as well. Elements of Western, Ottoman, European, and Asian cultures could be spotted in varying amounts in almost everything.

Nate leaned against the wall outside the hotel, waiting for Jayden to finish his phone call. In an attempt to appear casual, he had his arms and ankles crossed, with nothing but the wall holding him up. Blending in wasn't something Nate was fantastic at, but he tried his best. His record wasn't exactly squeaky clean, so he tried not to draw attention to himself if he could avoid it.

"The shop is about three blocks west of here," Jayden said, interrupting Nate's thoughts as he stepped up next to him.

"You said your brother was after all this stuff, too. What makes you think he hasn't already gotten the things you're after?" Nate questioned, standing up straight.

Jayden shrugged. "The people working for him aren't the brightest bunch. They can't tell the difference between a real treasure and a knockoff. I've duped them a few times."

Nate twisted his mouth up and sighed through his nose. "Right. So why do you need me then? I'm guessing I'm not just here because of my charm."

Jayden wrinkled up his nose, hesitating before meeting Nate's eyes. "I need the dragon. And I need you to steal it back from my brother."

Groaning, Nate rolled his eyes. "Of course. Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I figured I'd get you interested in working for me first," Jayden replied with a shrug.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Nate ran his hands through his short brown hair. He should have know the kid was lying to him. He was Michael Risyn's kid after all. Grumbling to himself, he climbed into a cab with Jayden and spent the drive convincing himself punching the kid in the nose was a bad idea.

"Care to tell me what's so interesting about this bowl?" Jayden asked when they reached their destination.

Nate waited for Jayden to pay the driver before reciting the tale of Jamshid and the cup.

Jayden blinked at him when he finished speaking. "Please tell me you're kidding."

Nate shook his head as they wound their way through a small but densely packed shop. "Nope. Here, give me the picture," he said, holding out his hand.

Grumbling something under his breath, Jayden took the journal from his jacket with a shake of his head. Finding the photograph inside, he handed it over to Nate.

Turning to the store clerk, Nate put the picture on a glass display case that doubled as a counter. In English, he inquired about the bowl, relieved when the man replied in English. His Turkish was sadly lacking.

"This item has been popular lately," the clerk told them as he pulled it from behind a second counter.

"Oh yeah?" Nate picked up the bowl, slowly turning it over in his hands.

"I was asked to hold it for someone, but if you can make me a better offer, it's yours."

Jayden stepped forward, elbowing Nate out of the way. "How much?"

Tuning out the haggling, Nate examined the bowl. It was exactly as the legend described. And he didn't doubt it was old enough to be the fabled item as well. It wasn't in fantastic shape, but he was able to make out a faded inscription lining the rings of the bowl.

"Hello? Drake?" The redhead waved a hand in front of Nate's face to catch his attention.

When Nate looked up, Jayden was watching him with raised eyebrows. He crossed his arms impatiently.

"You can take all the time you want with it back at the hotel," Jayden told him.

An expression closely resembling a pout crossed Nate's face. "We won't be there long," he said, tucking the bowl into the satchel at his hip.

"Huh?"

"We'll only be there long enough for me to translate the inscription," Nate explained, scrubbing his hand over his stubbly chin.

Jayden was close on his heels as they headed back into the street. "Inscription? What inscription?"

"Let me see the journal," replied Nate, holding out his hand.

"When we get back to the hotel. I don't remember reading anything about an inscription, though," said Jayden, frowning at his companion.

Shrugging, Nate let his arm fall back to his side. It didn't matter if there was anything in the journal. He could tell there was something intriguing about this piece, even if it wasn't the actual Cup. He was a little confused the inscription was in Sanskrit since the language didn't exactly fit with the origin of the bowl. But he could read it, so he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"You do this a lot?"

"Do what?" Nate asked, glancing at Jayden.

"Space out."

"I wasn't."

"I called your name at least three times. I hailed us a cab, but I guess you'd prefer to walk."

Scowling, Nate glanced over his shoulder. He was already half a block from the shop, and on the opposite side of the street. "I was thinking."

"Yeah, whatever."

Nate's thoughts went back to the bowl as they made their way back to the hotel. Upon Jayden's insistence, they looked for spying devices once they got there. Nate was growing increasingly impatient by the time he was allowed to get to work.

Jayden reluctantly handed over his journal before flopping down on his bed. He watched Nathan pull out his own small, leather-bound journal and a pencil.

"What are you hoping to find?" he asked as the man put everything on the desk.

"I'll know when I see it," Nate replied, opening the Risyn journal.


	3. A Not-So-Pleasant Stroll

"The Guardian Beneath the trees far from Home holds the Key," Nate mumbled under his breath for the hundredth time since they left the hotel an hour earlier. He furrowed his brow in thought as he drove the rickety Land Rover down the dirt road.

"Would it kill you to pay attention to the road? Or let me drive?" Jayden complained, clutching the dash with white knuckles.

"I can multitask," grumbled Nate. Yes, he was a little distracted by this new development, but he was not going to let Jayden behind the wheel.

"Maybe so, but you didn't sleep last night."

Nate didn't deny it. He had stayed awake, pouring through the Risyn journal. He made sketches of the bowl in his own journal as well, and of course translated the inscription. His night time reading had turned up some interesting tidbits of information he wouldn't mind looking into at another time. Each item had coordinates or a detailed description of the location the item was originally found. The bowl had turned up in a section of rainforest bordering the Black Sea.

"Why the hell are we driving out to the middle of nowhere, anyway?" Jayden asked with a sigh, slouching in his seat.

"Couple of reasons," Nate answered. "I wanna check out the ruins where the bowl was originally found, and according to the stories about Jamshid, when he fled he went half way around the world to escape. The known world wasn't all that big back then, so I think he may have ended up in what is now Georgia. Plus, the inscription was carved into the bowl long after the bowl itself was made. It says _trees_ far from home. The Colchian rainforest makes sense."

Jayden let out yet another sigh. "Alright, I'll humor you. But if we don't find anything by the end of the day, you'll drop this and get my dragon."

Nate's eyes slid toward Jayden. "Deal," he grumbled. He really hoped luck was on his side today because he would need it to find anything in that time limit. There had to be something out there, though. The Guardian Beneath the trees far from Home holds the Key. What did it mean?

His train of thought was disrupted when a wide yawn overwhelmed him.

"Let me drive before you run us off a cliff," Jayden demanded.

"Every time I've driven off a cliff, it was on purpose," Nate teased, looking over to see the kid's reaction. The stunned expression was amusing.

They drove on silently for a while, Nate blinking often to try reducing the soreness of his tired eyes. They would be on the road for another two or three hours at least, and their route took them down less traveled, more dangerous roads. He hadn't slept much in the last forty-eight hours, and his response time was probably lacking.

Letting out a long breath, Nate slowed to a stop in the middle of the narrow dirt road. Getting out of the vehicle, he stretched and traded places with Jayden. If he wasn't having trouble keeping his eyes open, there was no way he would let Jayden drive.

"You'd better be a better driver than a pilot, because I'd like to reach our destination in one piece," he said, settling into his seat and folding his arms across his chest.

"Like I said before, that was turbulence, and therefore not my fault," Jayden explained. "We landed in one piece."

"Tell that to the landing gear," Nate replied. The mechanism had snapped cleanly in half as soon as they touched down.

"You're impossible."

Nate's eyes grew wide and he sat up again, shifting in his seat to direct an exasperated look at Jayden. "It is not normal for a landing gear to snap in half!"

"You're still alive, aren't you?"

Nate's nostrils flared and he pursed his lips, sagging against the upholstery. "Just don't...blow us up or something."

"If I do, it certainly won't be on purpose."

Closing his eyes, Nate pinched the bridge of his nose. Inhaling a lungful of the humid coastal air, he settled in for a catnap. He let his mind wander, thinking of the bits and pieces of the legends and stories he knew of Jamshid. The king had supposedly eliminated all sickness during his rule, most likely because of whatever elixir was rumored to be in the cup. He had also discovered wine. Most of what he knew was irrelevant.

At some point during his rule, Jamshid began to claim he was the Creator. A boast that did not sit well with his people. They turned on him and tracked him halfway across the world after he fled. When they found him, they cut him in two. All the weapons and armor he was said to have invented clearly didn't help him.

The man was not Nate's concern, however. He was interested in the so-called magical cup he had in his possession. The bowl they found at the shop looked just like the item described in folklore, but there had to be something more to it. Something that was paired with the bowl to make it work like stories claimed.

"The clock is ticking, Drake. Time to wake up." Jayden shook the man's shoulder, rousing him from a light doze.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Nate sat up. His spine popped as he leaned forward to look out the windshield. Dense, vivid greenery, fog, and the occasional sunbeam made up his view. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he pushed himself from the vehicle. His boots sank into the spongy ground, and a chill raced up his spine. It was somewhere around fifty degrees, and the humidity was high. Not the most pleasant outdoor conditions, but far from the worst.

As Nate walked forward, careful of his footing, he glanced back at the Land Rover. The front tires had become partially submerged in the marshy earth where Jayden parked.

"You just love to kill our transportation, don't you?" he asked, stretching.

"It still works. It's just a little...stuck," Jayden answered, a dusting of pink on his cheeks.

Rolling his eyes, Nate headed off into the forest. As he walked, he checked the pistol he kept in the leather holster at his side. It was good to go if they ran into any trouble. He'd rather not have any trouble at all, but he would rather it be a bear or jackal if he had to choose.

"What are we looking for exactly?"

Nate hopped over a narrow stream. "Overgrown ruins, anything that looks man made."

Following a few paces behind, Jayden exhaled a sharp breath. "You know most of this area has been reforested, right? Anything that used to be here probably doesn't exist anymore."

"Why do you think we took a path that lead us so far off the main road? This is part of the original Colchis Forest," Nate explained, testing out a particularly soggy bit of ground before changing direction.

Jayden fell silent for a while, seemingly out of protests. He muttered a few complaints about the landscape as he followed behind Nate. Yes, it was cool and damp. Yes, it was muddy. Yes, it smelled like moldy leaves. Those things all went hand-in-hand with a temperate coastal rainforest. Ignoring Jayden, Nate found himself enjoying their walk through the ancient trees. That is until they came to a cliff.

The drop-off was one side of a narrow valley, perhaps one hundred fifty feet across where they stood. The noise of the rushing river below reverberated up the rock walls, making it sound like an enormous waterfall. A fallen tree bridged the gap, but the old wood had seen better days and was rotting in places.

Nate hefted himself onto the exposed root system of the tree.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jayden's jaw gaped.

"Deluding myself into believing this won't crumble under me as I cross," Nate replied, raising his arms to help maintain his balance. Venturing out from solid ground, the tree groaned under his weight.

"No, I mean," Jayden paused, groaning, "there's gotta be another way across!"

"Maybe if you feel like walking a few dozen miles." As Nate made his way to the middle of the tree, his boot slipped on rotten bark, sending him off balance.

"Drake!"

"Whoa! Crap!" Nate wobbled, pitching to one side, overcompensating, and tipping wildly back the other way. Teetering, and flailing his arms, it took long, tense seconds for him to correct his footing and regain his balance. "I'm okay!" he called out with a nervous chuckle.

"Dammit, Drake!" Jayden stomped his foot like a toddler. At the same time, the remaining buried tree roots shifted and the entire trunk slipped at least a foot lower.

"I'm really starting to think you're bad luck!" Nate exclaimed, voice cracking as he took a few cautious steps forward. Satisfied the tree wouldn't fall out from under him in the next ten seconds, he sprinted across with steps as light as he could manage. Taking a deep breath once he was safely on the other side, he turned back toward Jayden. "Easy!"

"You're insane!" Jayden shouted back.

A bright grin flashed across Nate's face. "That was nothing! Scaling the side of a fortress with no safety gear while bad men shoot at you? _That's_ insane!"

Swallowing hard, Jayden screwed up his face. "Here goes nothing," he mumbled, climbing on the tree. His steps were slow, deliberate, and in rhythm with his breathing. He could feel the decayed bark sliding underfoot, making it difficult to remain upright. He was roughly two-thirds of the way across when he made one wrong step. With a crunch, his foot went through the wood. Falling in up to his knee, he found himself thoroughly stuck.

"How did you manage to find the _one_ hollow spot in that tree?" Nate asked, crossing his arms.

"Not really important!" Jayden yanked on his leg, struggling to maintain his balance. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help?"

Nate contemplated the fallen tree. "It won't hold both of us. Try breaking the trunk around your leg," he instructed.

Jayden couldn't even fit his fingers between the wood and his leg. And his knife was in the boot that was stuck. "No good," he told Nate.

Letting his arms drop to his side, Nate frowned. His eyes slid past Jayden to the other cliff. Dirt slid away from the roots still anchoring the tree in place. It looked like it might let go any second.

"Gonna have to make this quick," he mumbled, climbing back onto the tree. Puffing out a sharp breath, he took a few steps forward. The tree creaked and dropped another few inches.

"Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap..." he repeated as he approached Jayden. When he reached the kid, Nate grabbed his arms and pulled.

"Dammit," Jayden hissed between his teeth as the wood dug into his leg.

"Oh, this is not good. This is very, very not good." Nate's eyes grew wide as he stopped tugging on Jayden, looking past his shoulder.

Jayden was about to ask what was going on when the tree shifted beneath them.

Nate let out a low growl. "Ah, screw it!"

"Screw what?"

Nate lifted his knee, slamming the heel of his boot against the rotting wood. The tree trunk splintered, stabbing painfully into Jayden's leg. The pain took a backseat in his mind because as soon as he pulled his leg free, he was chasing Drake to solid ground.

They were only a few steps away from safety when, almost like a cartoon, there was nothing under their feet. They were falling, the tree plummeting toward the river far below. The fall seemed to stop as soon as it started, stopping with jarring, arm wrenching suddenness. Jayden slammed hard into the cliff face, hands balled into cool, wet foliage.

"Drake?" he called, voice coming out in a wheeze. Lifting his head, he started searching for better purchase as the leaves began to slip from his grasp.

"Give me a minute," Nate grunted from above, expertly leaping from where he dangled, up to the edge of the cliff. Hauling himself up, he disappeared for a moment before leaning back down, arm extended. "You plan on hanging there all day?" he panted, stretching out on his belly to reach for Jayden.

"I'd rather not." Propping his feet against the rocks, Jayden strained his aching forearms and shoulders to reach for the offered hand. Grabbing his arm, Drake hauled him up.

"You really have to stop trying to kill me," Nate sighed, pushing himself to his feet.

"You're the one who decided to cross the unstable, rotting log," complained Jayden.

As Nate walked away, he glanced back over his shoulder, one eyebrow sliding upward. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

Jayden's sigh came out as a dry, sarcastic chuckle.

Nate flashed a smirk as they headed back into the trees. With each step, he noticed the ground was becoming less marshy.

"Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. The ground here is more suitable for building," Nate pointed out.

The men fell silent once again, concentrating on finding any signs of ruins among the overgrowth. The plant life was so thick it was difficult to move with ease, and everything seemed to blend together. More than once, even with Nate's warnings, Jayden stumbled on hidden rocks, roots, stumps, and vines.

"How can one person be so clumsy?" Nate asked, hoisting Jayden up after he slipped into an overgrown crevice. "I told you to watch your step at least five separate times."

"I was too busy looking for your non-existent ru--!" Jayden's words morphed into a loud yelp as his boot got caught in a low burrow. He toppled forward, tumbling down a shallow incline. When he rolled to a stop, he glared up at the canopy overhead.

Nate slid down on his heels, following Jayden. "Six times."

"Smart ass," Jayden growled, pressing a hand to his head. "I can't remember the last time I had so much mud on my clothes."

Laughing, Nate helped Jayden up once again. "On the bright side, you've found some ruins." Putting his hands on his hips, Nate admired the scene before them. The odd protrusions sticking up from the forest floor could easily be overlooked if you weren't sure what you were searching for. The centuries-old stone was encased in moss and lichen, trees and plants destroying the foundation of whatever building used to stand here. A few faint beams of sunlight filtered through the canopy, illuminating the former walls with marbled golden light. Whatever this building was, it wasn't very large.

"Doesn't look like much," observed Jayden.

"But it's got great personality," joked Nate, crossing through the imprint of a doorway.

"With every word out of your mouth, I believe less of your reputation," muttered Jayden.

Crouching by one crumbled wall, Nate tore away the moss. "I have a reputation?" he asked, not expecting, or caring to receive an answer. He focused on the old stone before him, plucking away plant life. This was the first time in many years the stone was exposed to light and it and an interesting luster.

While Nate studied the broken walls, Jayden wandered around with his hands in his pockets. Using his boot, he scraped away plant life on an intact stone brick. Two deep scratches marred the surface.

"A bear couldn't do this, could it?" he asked, leaning over the remnants of a wall to show Nate the brick. The man didn't hear him, fully engrossed with his own scratches.

"Care to extend my deadline?" he eventually asked, tipping his head back, meeting Jayden's gaze.

"What are they?" Jayden asked in return.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't need more time, would I?" Standing up, Nate crossed his arms, eyes moving over other bits of wall and fallen stones. After a moment, he took his journal from a pouch on his belt and started sketching. Each fragment meant nothing alone, but he was sure if he put them together...

"Help me clear away this moss," he said, ripping it away from the stonework.

Admitting he was curious, Jayden helped Nate with the plants.

"Well, this is weird," Nate said after they exposed the majority of the wall. "Very interesting, and wrong."

"What?"

With an expression that melded a frown with boy-like excitement, Nate pointed out three different sections of scratches. "Someone went through a lot of trouble to carve a message in this wall. It's sloppy, like the inscription in the bowl. Whoever wrote this, Sanskrit was not their native language. And something tells me this wasn't meant to be read by just anyone."

"What's it say?" Jayden wanted to know, tipping his head as though it would help him understand the markings.

"Not sure, but it shouldn't take me long to piece it together." Taking a few backward steps, he stared down at his journal. Sitting down on a hollow log, he propped the leather bound book in his lap.

To pass the time while Nate did his thing, Jayden decided to check out the immediate area for anything else that could be considered interesting. He was rewarded when the glitter of gold caught his eye. Stooping over, he unearthed a necklace that was partially buried in dirt and tangled with grass. The gold chain was woven into a braid around the front, tapering off into a thin, single chain at the back where the clasp was located. It was plain, but still a work of art.

"Hey, Drake. I found this--" Jayden's words were cut short by a gunshot, the bullet slicing through the air by his cheek. He crouched next to Drake.

"Aw hell," Nate complained. Putting his journal away, he drew his pistol. "I don't even know what I'm looking for!" he called, peeking over the ridge he had been using as a backrest moments before. He returned fire and ducked back down.

"Sorry," whispered Jayden, cringing as another shot zipped by him. "I should have known they'd be tracking me."

"They probably spotted your fire engine head a mile off." Nate fired into the trees a few more times and heard someone yelp in pain. "C'mon." He was up and moving before Jayden could reply. They kept low, climbing back up the incline Jayden fell down earlier. Moving silently through the trees, they circled back around and came up beside one of the shooters. He was a standard thug-for-hire that Nate had encountered any number of times before, dressed in ripped jeans, a puffy orange vest over a grungy off-white shirt, and scuffed work boots. He was blending in with the forest only slightly better than Jayden. But he was big. And he had a tight grip on the KAL-7 in his hands.

"Take cover," Nate instructed, pressing his back to a tree and holstering his 9mm.

"What are you gonna do?" Jayden hissed.

"I'm gonna ask the nice man if I can borrow his rifle." Lowering himself into a half-squat, Nate crept through the long grass toward the thug. Sneaking through the plants, he moved in close. Once he was within arms reach, Nate stood up to his full height. With the speed of a viper strike, his arms shot out, wrapping around the bigger man's neck. The thug was startled, pulled backward by Nate's weight. He didn't go down choking like Nate predicted, instead throwing him off like a rag doll. Nate hit a tree trunk hard, the air escaping his lungs in a rush.

The thug closed the distance between them with lumbering steps, giving Nate the chance he needed to regain his balance and oxygen. Meaty fists reached out for him, but Nate avoided the grab, using his smaller stature to his advantage. Coming out of the crouch smoothly, he threw a punch as he straightened his knees. His fist smashed into the guy's cheek, making him take a step back. Keeping his momentum going, Nate grabbed the KAL by the stock and shoved it upward. The weapon bashed the guy in the face, shattering his nose. Blood gushed from the thug's nostrils, and his eyes were already starting to bruise, but he wrestled Nate for the weapon. Bracing himself, Nate gave the gun a hard yank, timing it with a solid kick to the guy's crotch.

Startled, the man let go of the gun immediately. Nate turned the KAL over in his hands, bashing the butt of the weapon against the guy's skull. His eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground like a sack of wet sand.

"He'll be feeling that for a week," Nate said, checking the gun.

"You fight dirty," Jayden told him with a sympathetic wince.

"You're welcome. He working for your brother?"

"Most likely."

"How many does he usually employ?"

"Depends on what he's after."

Nate vaulted over a low ridge. "Give me an estimate."

"Could be as few as two, or as many as twenty. Do you think you could lend me your pistol?"

"That's quite a ballpark."

Jayden quirked a brow, holding out his hand.

"Kids shouldn't play with guns," Nate said, squatting behind a hill. Half a dozen weapons open fired in their direction, including a grenade launcher. "No one could possibly be this unlucky!" A grenade sailed over their heads in reply. Peeking over the hill, he fired back.


	4. Brother Dearest

"Things were going pretty good until Thing One and Thing Two came along," Nate said with a shrug, finishing a forced retelling of the day's events. He chose to keep the good bits of the story to himself.

"No need to be so modest, Mr. Drake. I am well acquainted with your exploits, and I know my brother would only come to you for something beyond his skill set," Hayden Risyn said to him, looking down his nose to where Nate and Jayden knelt, wrists bound behind their backs.

Nate's eyebrows slid up to meet his hair. "I have exploits?"

"Lindsay, if you would?"

The enormous, muscle-bound man who had given him the pat-down earlier slugged Nate. With a grunt, Nate pitched to the side, face hitting the ground hard. The smack split his lip open, but he couldn't help the grin and snort of derisive laughter that erupted from him.

"Your name is Lindsay? Seriously? What's Gunboy's name, then? Marion?"

"Drake, I wouldn't," Jayden warned, keeping his eyes locked on the patchy grass at his knees.

"I would have said Bruno or something. But I guess that's why you're so mean."

Lindsay punched Nate a second time.

"Ow," laughed Nate, struggling to get his legs under him to sit up again.

Sighing, Hayden crossed his arms, his white dress shirt pulling tightly across his shoulders and arms. "Percy, please make sure he doesn't kill Mr. Drake before we get what we need."

Nate bit his lip to stop another joke which would probably end in a broken nose or cheekbone. To distract himself, he looked around at Hayden's camp. The tents were a hasty setup, but the location had been well thought out. A cliff on one side, thick foliage on the remaining three enclosed and protected them well enough. And if they could get by the twelve heavily armed men, it would make for great cover as well.

Hayden took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped sweat from his brow while scowling at his brother. The man's brown eyes were a little hazy, and his dirty blonde hair was plastered to his temples. The way he was sweating, it was like he was standing in a tropical forest at the hottest part of the day. Something had to be wrong if he was this drenched when the temperature was below fifty and dropping.

With the handkerchief dangling from his fingers, Hayden lowered himself into a squat before his brother. "Jay, you wouldn't be keeping something important from me, would you?"

"We didn't find anything, Hayden." Jayden's cold, hard expression matched his voice.

Nate cleared his throat, drawing Hayden's attention. "I can't help but notice a little tension here."

Jayden let out a sigh, his nostrils flaring. "And you say I'm trying to kill you," he mumbled.

"You know Mr. Drake, whatever he's offered to pay you, I can easily triple. I believe it would be more beneficial to you to work with me," said Hayden, standing up straight again. He wiped his forehead and neck once more before tucking the handkerchief back in his pocket.

"Would you believe I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart?"

"Not at all Mr. Drake. If you worked with me though, you wouldn't need to worry about a professional liar tagging along behind you like the masterless dog he is."

Nate shot a brief sideways glance at Jayden. His eyes burned with a deep-seated hatred. He would have lunged at his brother if not for the gun pressed to the back of his head. Underneath the hate, something else sparkled in those eyes as well.

"Now, you say work with, but what I'm hearing is ' _work for, and I'll kill you when you've done what I want_ '. While that does sound like a spectacular offer, I'm gonna have to pass. Thanks, though," he replied through a tight smile.

A grin brightened Hayden's clammy features and he chuckled. "That's ridiculous. Why would I kill you when there are endless uses for your particular set of talents?" His amusement faded with a heavy exhale. "But if you won't work for me, torture is always an option. I don't know how much pain you can withstand Mr. Drake, but I think it'll be fun finding out, don't you?"

"I'm not really into that sort of thing, but to each their own I guess."

The corner of Hayden's mouth ticked upward as he turned back to Jayden. "As for you, it'll be fun trying to break you when no one else could. Lindsay, Percy, lock them up for the night. You can play with them tomorrow."

Nate opened his mouth to comment when pain exploded across the back of his skull. Stars erupted in his vision, which tunneled out as he collapsed forward. Soon everything went gray and fuzzy. He was vaguely away of his name being called, but it was far away and sounded garbled. He was going down for the count, and he knew he'd have a nasty headache when he woke up.

 

~oOo~

 

Nate usually took a few minutes to defog when he woke up from being knocked out. He noticed a couple of things immediately upon waking this time, though. He was freezing cold, to the point of pain, and something was dripping on his left arm. And the headache. The headache was bad.

He cracked his eyes open to darkness. He was relieved he didn't have to subject his already stinging eyes to bright light right away. Relief changed to concern when he realized his wrists were shackled above his head, and both his shirt and holster were gone.

"I'm afraid to ask, but why am I not wearing a shirt?" he asked, picking out Jayden's silhouette in the faint moonlight. He cringed at the croak of his voice.

"I guess they're hoping we'll freeze to death overnight," Jayden grumbled, rattling his own restraints. "Lindsay was not gentle with you."

A shiver raced up Nate's spine, and it had nothing to do with the brisk night air. "Okay, now that I have that uncomfortable imagery in my mind, let's change the subject. You were conscious when they put us down here, right?"

Jayden nodded, moonlight reflecting off his hair. "We're in a guarded pit off the camp. Lindsay and a couple other big dudes with M-16s are keeping watch."

Tipping his head back as much as the restraints would allow, Nate saw a flicker of a torch. "Sounds like a party."

"You got a plan?"

Nate yanked on his restraints, testing them. There was no give. "I'm working on it," he replied, turning his gaze back to Jayden. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the low light, he was able to pick out the myriad of scars on the kid's torso. A puckered, circular scar below, and to the left of his belly button stood out in particular. It looked very much like a gunshot scar.

It seemed as though Jayden was hiding more than Nate thought. Then again, Hayden had said the younger Risyn was a professional liar. "Since we aren't currently being shot at," Nate began, clenching his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering, "why don't you tell me a story while I try and come up with an escape plan."

Hanging his head, Jayden let his chin drop to his chest. "You want to know what Hayden meant, right? And the scar has always been a point of interest. Mostly among women, though."

Nate wasn't sure his glare reached the kid in the darkness. Not that it would have carried much weight if it had since it was more of a grimace. "What did Hayden mean by calling you a professional liar?"

"Exactly what you think. I lied for a living. It's all in the past, though."

"If you want to keep my services after we're out of here, I suggest you start telling me the truth. What the hell is going on?" Nate asked, hearing a little too much of Sully in his voice.

"Okay, okay. First of all, I am nowhere near as inept as I've been acting. I have skills, believe it or not. Been putting them to use working for dad. And I really do want that dragon. But getting it back from Hayden is outside my expertise. Which, like I said, is why I asked for your help," explained the redhead.

"What are you leaving out?" Nate asked, words coming out with a clatter of chattering teeth. His entire body was covered in goosebumps, his hands, arms, and shoulders quickly losing sensation, and the water dripping on him was leaving an icy trail down his side and soaking into his jeans.

Jayden huffed, rattling his restraints again. "Not that you'll believe me, but I'm former Special Forces."

"What? You're, like, twelve!" Nate leaned forward as he spoke, trying to see past the lip of the pit.

"I'm twenty-five," Jayden grumbled.

"I probably would have been more willing to give you a gun had you just said that from the start."

"Would you have believed me?"

"Probably not. Actually, I don't really believe you now."

Jayden exhaled through his nose, the rush of air turning into a foggy cloud between them. "Not surprising. I look really young, so no one ever believes me. It's just easier to make something up when people ask where I am, or what I'm doing. Loads of people knew I was in the military, but it just became second nature to lie."

"Well, if you've got skills like you say, maybe you could start pulling your weight and give me a hand?"

"With what?" Jayden grumbled. "We're chained up in a hole in the ground, half-frozen, and guarded by big guys with big guns. We aren't exactly in the best position to save ourselves."

"Ever the optimist," replied Nate, teeth rattling.

"Even if you could get out of those shackles, I highly doubt we could overpower Lindsay. The amount of blood on your face tells me you're only conscious due to sheer stubbornness. They've got your journal too, so they really don't need you anymore," said Jayden, leaning back against the muddy wall.

"Even if your brother or one of his goons can read Sanskrit, they're gonna have a hard time piecing those fragments together. Have some faith, would ya?" Nate took a half step forward, only now noticing his shoes and socks had been removed as well. His feet were had gone numb. Thinking warm thoughts wasn't going to cut it anymore.

"Faith?" scoffed Jayden. "Please. Do _you_ even know what that message was?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. And I might just let you in on it if we're still alive in the morning."

Jayden let out an annoyed grunt and probably rolled his eyes. Nate couldn't be sure in the dark. He wasn't sure why, but he liked Jayden less now that he was in on his secret. If his being Special Forces was even true. But all of his sighing and complaining seemed to be wearing on his already frazzled nerves much faster now. Or maybe that was the head trauma.

"Okay, I think I may be able--," Nate's words were cut short by an explosion and a shower of mud from above. A rattle of gunfire and muffled shouting followed.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Jayden asked, craning his neck to try and see what was happening. A torch fell into the pit between them, sputtering out in the mud. The smell of smoke and gunpowder wafted on the air.

"Good question." Nate watched a grenade fly overhead, the ground rumbling as it exploded. Someone screamed and tumbled into the pit. "Getting a little crowded in here!" he called.

"We'll get ta ya! Can only work so fast up here, Kid!"

Nate's jaw dropped. "Sully? Oh, you glorious bastard! Wait. We? Who's with you?"

There was no answer, just more gunfire. Two more explosions followed, then silence.

"Sully?" Nate shouted after a few long seconds.

"Keep yer pants on, Kid!" Sully replied as he lowered a rough ladder into the pit. He planted a torch in the mud, casting light over the captured men. He climbed down, careful not to step on the dead man at the bottom.

"Don't say it, Sully," Nate warned as the man raised an eyebrow at him. One of two comments was stewing in Sully's brain right now, and despite his warning, Nate would get to find out which.

"You tryin' to put someone's eye out with those things?" Sully asked with a crooked grin as he reached up to unlock Nate's shackles. He must have 'found' the key somewhere.

Nate's lip curled in a sneer. "Ha ha. It's cold, you jackass," he replied, rubbing feeling back into his hands. There was a scowl on his face, but relief in his eyes.

"This the kid?" Sully asked, unlocking Jayden's shackles as well.

"That's the kid," Nate answered.

"Jayden Risyn," the redhead told the man.

Sully held his gaze for a moment. "Are you as big a swindler as your old man?"

"No."

"Yes," Nate said at the same time.

"All right. Up you go," Sully told them as they glared at one another.

Nate had enough trouble standing on icy, numb feet. Climbing the rickety ladder with frozen extremities took him longer than he cared to admit.

"Any time, Nate," Sully grumbled below him.

"I take it this isn't the first time you've saved his ass?" Jayden asked as Nate hoisted himself from the pit.

Ignoring Sully's chuckle, Nate migrated over to the large fire burning in the middle of the camp. It was in the place of Hayden's tent. Wondering absently if the man was still alive, he let the heat wash over his frozen skin. Sully and Jayden joined him.

"Two questions," Nate said.

"Shoot," replied Sully.

"Who's here with you? And do you have any shoes I can wear? I can't feel my feet."

Sully stared into the fire, a familiar female voice answering in his place. Nate wasn't entirely sure he was happy to hear her.

"I'd ask how you got yourself into this mess, but I don't think I want to know," Elena Fisher sighed, propping a fist on her hip. She held an M32-Hammer in her other hand

"And now I know where the explosions were coming from," Nate said, eyeing the grenade launcher. "Hello, Elena. Do you have my shoes?"

The blonde smirked. "And your socks, and your shirt," she told him.

"Why does it sound like this isn't the first time he asked her for his clothes?" Jayden said from beside Sully.

The trio chose not to answer Jayden's claim as Elena led them to a tent which hadn't been caught in the explosions. On top of a crate were a pair of beat-up black boots, a pair of scuffed leather boots, a purple tee shirt, a khaki long sleeve shirt, and Nate's leather holster.

"You said there were socks, Elena," Drake said, cocking an eyebrow at her as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"In your boots."

"Okay, while I am grateful to be out of there, and have my clothes back, am I the only one who wants to know how they found us?" Jayden asked, raising his brows at Nate.

Leaning against the crate to wipe mud from his feet, Nate shook his head. "No, no. I'm curious as well. Was just as little more concerned about warming up," he replied, teeth still chattering.

"Hate to interrupt boys, but can we get out of here before they come back?" Elena questioned, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb.

Agreeing, the group moved away from the destroyed camp.

"Oh, muddy feet in socks is really gross," Nate mumbled to himself. "I don't suppose either of you saw my journal lying around before you blew the place up?"

"It's probably long gone," Sully said with a shake of his head, handing Nate a pistol and a rifle.

"I thought you said it wouldn't matter if they had it," Jayden said, grabbing his own weapon off a dead man.

Nate shook his head. "It doesn't, but I still want it back."

"Well, if we run into my brother again, I'll be sure to ask him for it."

"Another Risyn? What have you gotten yourself mixed up in this time, Nate?" Sully asked, clapping his friend on the shoulder as he walked past him.

"Tell me your story and I'll tell you mine," replied Nate, glancing back at the nice warm fire they were leaving behind. Sighing, he jogged to catch up with the others. "We need to get back to those ruins."

Jayden's head snapped up, eyes wide. "Are you _nuts_? That's the first place they'll look for us!"

"Maybe, but we know what we're doing. He doesn't," Nate replied, wagging a finger at Jayden.

Elena held up a hand, glancing over her shoulder at Nate. "Care to fill in the rest of the class? I have no idea why we're out here."

"I think Sully should tell us about the daring rescue first," Nate said to his friend.

"I dunno, Kid. Maybe you should go first. Talking might get some circulation back into your lips since they're blue," teased Sully.

"Being as how I'm out of the loop on both accounts, I don't really care who goes first," grumbled Jayden, trailing along behind them.

Elena fell into step beside the redhead as Sully and Nate bickered. "Speaking of being out of the loop, mind if I ask who you are?"

Jayden offered his hand and a charming grin. "Jayden Risyn, son of antique baron Michael Risyn. Pleasure to meet you."

"Elena Fisher," she replied, shaking his hand.

"So I take it you and Drake know each other?"

Elena nodded, a chunk of hair falling across her face. "Yeah. We were working together and it turned into, well, something like your little misadventure. Didn't really want to do it again, but here we are," she explained with a sweep of her arm. "It's pretty hard to say no when Victor Sullivan asks for help," she added with a chuckle.

"He's got a lot of charm for an old guy," teased Nate.

"Thanks."

"Okay, all joking aside, Sully. How did you find us?" Nate asked, the smirk slipping from his face.

"Well, you told me roughly where you were heading. It didn't take too much effort tracking you down in Turkey. I was just going to meet up with you at your hotel."

"Why? Did you rack up another big poker debt and decide to flee the country?" Nate asked, only half joking.

Sully narrowed his eyes at his friend. "I couldn't reach your phone, so I did some poking around and found out where you were going."

"Where did you learn that?" Jayden asked.

"A friend."

Jayden rolled his eyes.

"And I knew you wouldn't take main roads. The mud made following you that much easier. Oh, I found your Rover by the way. There will be no driving out of here in that thing."

"It wasn't _that_ stuck, was it?"

"Incinerated."

Nate's eyebrows shot up.

"Then when I heard the gunfire and explosions, I knew you had to be involved. I called Elena to give me a hand. Even if you hadn't been caught, I thought you might welcome the help."

Nate frowned. "I thought you were doing a story in South Africa," he said, looking at the blonde.

"Three months ago. I was actually just up north working on a new one," Elena clarified.

Jayden perked up, smiling. "I thought I recognized you! I used to watch your show all the time!"

Elena's expression brightened, but Nate raised a hand, cutting her off before she could reply.

"Wait a second. I've asked for your help before, but you've always refused."

"I was nearby," Elena told him with a shrug. "I wasn't going to let Sullivan go into this himself. Believe me, I'd rather not be here holding a grenade launcher. You would make a lot of people's lives easier if you stopped getting in trouble with people who want you dead," she said, the look in her brown eyes not matching the annoyance on her face.

"Let's keep the arguing to a minimum, shall we? I'd like to get out of here without attracting unwanted attention." Sully gave them a tight smile, looking at both of them in turn.

"And you thought the tension between me and my brother was bad." Jayden grimaced, stepping past the pair who had stopped walking to argue. He could feel Drake's glare on his back and shrugged it off.

"I'm starting to regret not taking your brother up on his offer," Nate grumbled as they started moving again.

"Okay, start talking Nate. Sounds like a lot happened on your end," Sully interrupted, stepping between the men.

Nate grumbled low in his throat, cringing each time he stepped down. Mud inside socks was not a pleasant sensation. Shaking his head, he started his side of the story. He began by telling Elena the legend he told Sully. After recounting the events of the day, he told them about the inscription.

"The hell does that mean?" Sully asked, leading them through the trees.

"I assume there is a key of some sort being guarded by a, uh, an I don't know what. Mostly likely underground. Which goes with what we found at the ruins. Which we are heading away from, Sully," Nate informed them.

"We'll circle back in a bit. What did you find in the ruins?"

"A message scrawled on a broken wall in Sanskrit. It said ' _It waits deep below the World_ '," Nate answered.

"Underground is a pretty safe bet, then," agreed Elena. "Both of those messages were Sanskrit? Wasn't Jamshid Persian?"

Nate nodded.

"Maybe the bowl got into someone else's hands after Jamshid was murdered," Jayden suggested with a one-shouldered shrug.

"I don't think so. It pretty much disappeared. I think Jamshid hid it before he died," Nate theorized. "It was found, like everything tends to be over time, and now we're going to find out what's going on," he added, a cheeky grin lighting up his features. Some of the dried mud and blood on his face flaked off with the movement.

"As exciting as that sounds Nate, how do you expect to find what you're looking for?" Elena questioned, making a vague gesture with her free hand. "Underground is kind of a big place."

"She's got a point, Kid."

"But this is a great starting point. Loads of places we can start looking around here," Nate answered.

"It'll take a lot longer than you're willing to commit to go through every cave and underground tunnel in this area. And what's to say the ' _trees far from home_ ' are these trees?" Jayden asked, glancing at Drake as he stepped over a fallen tree.

"Call it a gut feeling. Though I think here makes most sense," replied Nate, moving off the narrow animal trail. It was a bad decision. As he stepped away from the path, he put his foot down on a patch of ground that was deceptively solid-looking. A grassy patch disguised deep murky water. Nate slipped into it, barely making a splash as he disappeared beneath the surface.


	5. He's Part Monkey

"Nate!" Elena called, watching him slip into the water. She took a step forward, wary of where she was stepping. Sully put an arm out to stop her.

"He can swim, can't he?" Jayden asked, eyes searching the oddly still surface of the marsh.

"Yeah, but he should have come up by now," replied Elena, biting back a twinge of panic in her voice.

"It can't be that deep, can it?" Sully prodded the ground with the toe of his boot.

"You'd be surprised. Some of these marshes are incredibly deep." Jayden poked at the ground as well, trying to find the edge of the water.

"Dammit, Nate," growled Sully, looking around for something to use as a rope while contemplating going in after his friend.

"Dammit, what?"

Elena, Sully, and Jayden all turned at the sound of the voice. A myriad of emotions crossed their faces when they laid eyes on Nathan Drake. He was dripping wet, covered from head to foot in mud, and grinning from ear to ear.

"I don't know whether to hug you or kill you!" Elena gasped, eyeing the man.

"Oh c'mon. You guys didn't really think a mud puddle would kill me, did you?" Nate asked, pushing his soppy hair off his forehead.

"That's some mud puddle, Kid. What the hell happened?"

"Why don't you see for yourselves?"

"We don't have to go swimming, do we? Cause I only brought the one outfit," said Sully, raising his eyebrows at Nate.

"No, there's an easy, and dry, way," laughed Nate, turning away from the group. He took them on a short walk back through the trees. "This would have been so easy to miss," he told them as he crouched next to a patch of rotting foliage. He started moving the dead leaves to one side.

"What are you doing?" Jayden asked with a scowl.

"Just gimme a second and you'll find out," Nate answered without looking up. "Here!" Grabbing something on the ground, he gave it a yank. A large square of earth opened up like a hatch. "The plants would have completely disguised this before I came up. I kicked some leaves over it before coming to get you guys, just in case."

"Whoa." Jayden had to admit he was impressed.

Nate smirked at them before leading them down the stone staircase descending underground. "I have no clue what's down here beyond the path from the marsh to the stairs. Would have checked it out, but I figured you guys might want to see this, too," he told them, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. An unnaturally smooth, arched stone hallway stretched out before them, curving off to the right. The floor was a combination of rock and earth, flattened and well packed from foot traffic. Plants had begun to reclaim the tunnel though there was no sunlight.

"Are you sure it didn't have something to do with not having a light source?" Elena teased, taking a lighter from her pocket and flicking it open.

"Okay, that _may_ have been a reason," Nate admitted.

"How did you even find this?" Jayden's gaped as Elena removed an old torch from a wall sconce.

"A fluke, really. When I went under, I got disoriented by the darkness and tangle of plants. I saw a glow of bioluminescent plants, or creatures, or something leading off into a tunnel. It wasn't very long, but it was pretty deep. At the end, it curved and came up into the hallway here," Nate explained, accepting the now-lit torch from Elena.

"So you risked drowning to follow a random tunnel?" Jayden questioned, raising an eyebrow. The slight gesture took the place of a full blown sigh while he pinched the bridge of his nose.

A sheepish smirk curved Nate's mouth as he turned away, holding up the torch. "Much better!" he declared, starting down the corridor. His boots squelched with each step.

Shaking his head, Jayden put his hand to the stone wall. It was so cold it burned his fingers. "I'd say this was man made, but I don't think they were even capable of this type of workmanship when this would have been constructed."

"It's too uniform for erosion," added Elena.

"While the walls are interesting, I think _this_ is way more noteworthy," Nate said, stopping halfway between the stairs and the water entrance. An archway opened up into an enormous circular room with a high, flat ceiling. The walls were carved with intricate designs of swirls and soft lines. Not an inch of space remained for the carvings. Standing at the top of the three-step stairway leading into the chamber, the group looked down at the floor. Chips of ruby, onyx, and other precious stones created a stunning lion motif that covered the entire area. Rising from the motif was a series of platforms spaced evenly around the perimeter of the room which begged to be investigated.

"Wow. It's beautiful," whispered Elena, her voice carrying in the large room despite her soft tone.

"It'll look better if we can light those candles," replied Nate, looking up at the old chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "Actually, I think we might get a better perspective on the room with some decent light."

"How are you gonna manage that, Kid? The chain to lower the chandelier is broken," Sully observed, glancing up from the stones in the floor.

Nate held the torch over his head, illuminating the wall. "I can climb this."

"Seriously? You're gonna fall and break your neck," Jayden said dryly, stooping over one of the platforms. It had a depression in the center like it used to hold something.

Sully and Nate scoffed, exchanging a knowing glance.

"He's good at this sort of thing. I think he's part monkey," said Elena.

"Ooh, ooh," replied Nate, smirking as he handed off the torch. He nicked Elena's lighter from her pocket, the smirk brightening into a grin as he reached up and hooked his fingers over a protruding curve on the wall. Placing one foot on another round carving, he pushed himself off of the ground and started his ascent. The rounded edges and mud caking him from head to toe made progress slow and perilous, but at least no one was shooting at him. Yet.

"I wonder what's supposed to go on these pedestals." Sully's gruff voice echoed.

Nate chanced a look over his shoulder when his friend spoke. The halo of light from the singular torch didn't reach far enough for him to get a great look at the chamber.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself, tipping his head back to see how much further he needed to go. He had to climb at least ten more feet before he could jump across to the dangling end of the broken chain. Judging the distance was going to be a challenge in the nearly pitch-blackness. He was already having trouble finding hand and foot-holds in the gloom.

With a tenuous grip on a severely curved indentation and his feet barely touching a protrusion, he slid one hand across the wall to search out another hold. As he moved, he could feel the stone underfoot starting to give way, small pieces breaking off under his boots.

"C'mon," he hissed, feeling shallow, unusable ruts, and severely sloped and angled ledges under his fingers. His heart beat loud and fast in his ears, the muscles in his arms starting to burn as he desperately searched for something to grab. The barely-there stone he had his feet on gave off a loud, echoing crack a split second before it broke away, falling to the floor twenty feet below.

"Crap! Crapcrapcrap!" Nate grabbed the first thing his fingers touched before his other hand slipped and he followed the stone to the floor. He wrapped his hand around a circular knob about as big around as a beer bottle.

"You okay, Nate?" Sully called up to him.

"Yeah," Nate laughed nervously. "Yeah, I'm good." His dangling legs bumped against the wall, his straining arms holding his weight. His voice was breathy and shaking, but he told himself it was from exertion and not fear of falling to his death.

"Be careful," Elena told him.

"I'm good," he repeated. "Part monkey, remember?" Finding a new protrusion to perch his feet on, he took a few seconds to ensure his grip and footing was solid before continuing upward.

"Whoever carved this must have had a _really_ tall ladder," he breathed, stretching his arm out for another hold. Glancing over his shoulder, he checked if he was high enough to reach the chain. He could barely make it out in the dark, but a faint glint on the curves of the links showed him where it hung. It was roughly double his arm length away, and directly behind him. A tough leap, and very dangerous, but not the worst he would make in his life.

Silently reassuring himself, Nate bent his knees and took a few steadying breaths. Pushing himself away from the wall, he twisted mid-air, his arms pinwheeling. He immediately realized he misjudged the distance, stretching his arms out before him. At the last second, his fingers closed around the bottom few links. The force of the sudden stop wrenched his shoulder. Swinging wildly by the sore, exhausted muscles of his right arm, he reached up with his left hand. Adrenaline motivated him to pull himself up the chain, hand over hand.

"That was close," he panted to himself.

"How's it going, Nate? You're making a lot of noise up there," Sully commented.

"I'm getting there," Nate answered, clutching the chain in slick hands. At least he could swing to the chandelier from here and not have to make another death-defying leap right away.

"Well hurry it up, would ya?"

Nate looked down at the other below him, peering up into the darkness. "Would you rather do this?" he asked, getting the chain swinging.

"I think I'm good down here."

Nate resisted rolling his eyes as he swung his legs to build up momentum. He rode the chain back and forth a few times, waiting for the right moment to hop over to the chandelier. On the third swing, he let go halfway through the upward arc. He was only in the air briefly before slamming into the chandelier with a deafening clatter.

Compared to the elegance of the rest of the chamber, the chandelier was of rather simple, plain construction. Two hoops, one larger than the other, were strung together with six-foot lengths of chain, and rods for extra support. A platform was suspended from the center of the hoops, six massive, half melted candles adhered to the surface. The larger bottom hoop had miniature versions of the platform, each holding one of the gigantic candles. The entire fixture was about seven feet high and twelve feet in diameter. Underneath the layers of dust, the entire thing was gold plated and suspended from the ceiling with a chain bigger than Nate's forearm.

Holding on to the top hoop and balancing on the bottom one, Nate reached into his damp pocket, withdrawing Elena's lighter. Sliding his hand down the closest rod, he leaned toward the middle, flicking the lighter open. Dust and cobwebs made the old wicks catch easier, and he was glad he didn't have to struggle with them much. Once the middle candle was flickering away merrily, he moved around the chandelier, lighting the remaining candles. The heat from the flames warmed Nate's legs as he stood up to admire the mosaic down below.

"Oh my god," Jayden exhaled, the breathy words carrying clearly through the chamber.

"You should see it from up here," Nate replied, smiling softly. The lion's mane looked like fire, the way the rubies reflected the candle light. He had seen a lot of amazing things in his travels, and this had to be one of his favorites. The lion itself was mainly crafted from rubies and cloudy white sapphire, with onyx for outlines and accents. The eyes appeared to be diamonds, and the remainder a myriad of other colored stones.

"You coming down or you going to stay up there all day admiring the art?" Elena asked, craning her neck to look up at him.

"Getting down isn't gonna be--sonofa bitch!"

"What?"

"The chain on this side is still attached to the chandelier and the wall!" Nate sighed as he made his way to the opposite side, careful not to set his pants on fire. He ignored the chuckle from Sully down below and grabbed the chain. Hooking one leg over it, then the other, Nate inched his way down the length, toward the wall. When he got to the far side, he put his feet against the carvings. Lowering himself onto the section of chain hanging against the wall, he continued his descent. The chain got him a few feet closer to the floor, but he had to rely on the carvings to get him safely to the bottom. The designs on this side seemed to mirror the opposite side, so he was able to find a few good grooves and ledges on his way down.

Nate was breathing harder than he cared to admit when he finally set his boots back on the ground. The others were giving him an odd look.

"What?" he asked, flexing his cramped fingers.

"Wanna sit down for a minute? Take a breather?" Jayden asked, crossing his arms and leaning his weight on one leg.

"What? No, I'm fine," Nate replied, narrowing his eyes at the man.

"You're breathing pretty heavy, Kid," Sully told him.

Nate's glare slid to Sully before he turned his head to look at his friend directly. "Seriously? How 'bout you do that climb and tell me you aren't a little winded," he grumbled. Never mind that he had spent most of the night freezing, then gone for a swim in cold, muddy water. "Hey Elena, come here for a second."

Raising her eyes from the carvings she was admiring, Elena turned her attention to Nate. "Yeah?" Crossing the room, she came to stand next to him.

"Does this look like it could move to you?" he asked, tipping his head as he looked at one of the platforms circling the room. The top of this one was flat, unlike the others, and seemed to sit off the floor ever-so-slightly.

Crouching before the platform, Elena put her hand on the front. She gave it a gentle shove. Nothing happened, so she put more weight behind her next attempt. "I don't think this is going anywhere without help," she said, standing up again.

Nodding, Nate scanned the room. Every other platform had an indentation on top. "Maybe if we find whatever goes on the other ones, this one will open for us."

"Seriously?" Jayden felt like he had said the word more since meeting Nathan Drake than he had in his entire life. "Whatever those things are, they could have been destroyed centuries ago. How do you plan on finding something when you don't even know what it is?"

Nate shrugged. "Luck? It's gotten me this far."

Jayden rolled his eyes. "Unless you can get that thing open, there's nothing else here. We should go."

"There could be more down here," Elena said, glancing from Jayden to Nate. "Wouldn't hurt to look."

"Exactly! What's the rush, Jayden?" Nate asked, taking slow steps to the center of the chamber.

"I just have no desire to run into my brother again today."

"I think you're more worried about his cronies," Nate said, raising a brow.

"If only," the redhead sighed. "Hayden is a sadistic nut job."

Elena rolled her eyes in Nate's direction. "Nate is pretty familiar with those."

"What's the plan, Kid?" Sully interrupted, coming to stand with the rest if them. "It's your call."

Jayden gave the older man a sideways glance. "Technically it's mine since I'm the one funding this little adventure."

Ignoring him, Sully locked his eyes on Nate.

"We're already here. Let's check it out," Nate answered with a smirk.

The redhead's shoulders slumped as he let out a long, heavy sigh. "Fine."

Clapping Jayden on the shoulder, Nate smiled brightly at him. He turned toward the door, leading the group from the chamber. Jayden reluctantly brought up the rear.

Taking the torch back, Nate held it above his head to illuminate their path. The smooth hall curved back toward the marsh and the open square in the floor connecting to the water tunnel. Past the water passage, the hall curled back around, slowing downward as he went. The walls here were just as smooth, but were showing the age of the structure. Cracks had formed in the stone, allowing moisture to seep into the space. Puddles of stagnant water formed randomly on the floor, feeding the smattering of odd, puffy red flowers creeping up the walls and over the ceiling.

"What are these?" Elena wondered aloud, leaning close to get a good look a the flora.

"Nothing I've seen before," Sully commented.

"Could be an unidentified species, if not genus," Jayden pointed out, simultaneously intrigued and impatient.

"I'm all for stopping to smell the roses, but there's still a lot of hallway here," Nate told them to urge them forward. The group continued, heading deeper into the Earth with each step. The path was like a spiral staircase that had been stretched out of shape.

"This is a lot of walking for not covering much distance," Jayden muttered, trudging along behind the others.

"For someone who was former Special Ops, you complain a lot," Nate said, side-stepping an enormous black spider scurrying past him.

"I left all my military discipline behind when I left the military," Jayden replied with a grumble and shake of his head.

Nate frowned. "You're also no fun."

"Sorry for being annoyed I'm spending money on a wild goose chase."

"You still think this is a waste of time even after what we've found? Your brother clearly believes there's something worth finding out here, or we wouldn't be out here with a bunch of mercenaries."

Jayden's brow twitched as he sighed through his nose. "Not a waste of time, exactly. I'm just having a hard time believing there's something worthwhile at the end of this," he admitted.

"Well, we'll just have to see, won't we? There's an opening at the end of this straight stretch." Nate fought the urge to jog to the end of the pathway. When they reached the arched opening, they crowded in as Nate extended his arm to cast light on the room.

"Holy crap," all four of them said in unison.


	6. The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Nate's light didn't reach far, but it certainly went far enough to give him and the others a rough idea of the magnitude of the room before them. Equidistant from the door to the left and right, the torchlight reflected off masses of white stone. Nate was almost certain he could see the shape of a toe and a claw, probably an entire paw stretching into the darkness.

"Please tell me those aren't giant feet," Jayden muttered.

"Pretty sure those are giant feet," Nate answered as he stepped over the threshold into the new room. To his left a torch hung on the wall, fastened to the stone with metal brackets. He touched the flame of his own torch to it, creating a little more light. It barely made a dent in the massive space.

"Is there another one over there?" Nate asked, turning back toward the doorway.

"Yeah. Here." Sully held out his hand.

Nate tossed his torch to Sully, watching the flame arch through the darkness toward the man. Grabbing it out of the air, Sully touched the torch to the second one in a single smooth movement. As soon as the torch ignited, it was like someone flipped a switch. The flame seemed to come alive, hopping playfully along the wall, lighting sconces all the way around the perimeter of the chamber. And it was a _big_ chamber. Once the sconces were all burning, a second row higher up the walls began to ignite. Nate could now see what the giant stone feet were attached to, and he wasn't entirely sure he liked the recurring theme he was seeing here.

"Holy crap," he whispered. Beside him Jayden stared open mouthed, Elena was wide-eyed, and Sully let out a low whistle.

"Who could hide something like this?" Jayden demanded.

"Damn good question," Sully replied.

Nate tipped his head back to study the white stone statues of lions reclining lazily. Both creatures had to be at least three-quarters the size of the Sphinx. The eyes of the statues glowed red, staring across at each other in a subtle challenge. Nate fully expected them to somehow come to life.

"What are these made from?" Elena wondered, putting her hand against the cool stone.

"Whatever it is, it must come in some damn big blocks. From here they look like single, solid pieces," observed Sully.

Jayden's jaw dropped. "Are you freakin' kidding me? Who _cares_ what they're made of? I think it's a little more important to know how the hell they got here, how something like this could have been hidden so long? Why are they here?" his voice echoed, reverberating back to them in a distorted parroting of his words. The flames seemed to sense his tension, wavering back and forth on the sconces.

Sighing through his nose, Nate turned to face Jayden. A scowl creased his brow. "Why are you so impatient? Take thirty seconds to observe your surroundings. Or do you not have any curiosity at all?" Shaking his head, Nate briefly squeezed his eyes shut. "Most questions tend to get answered while we search for the treasure at the end. At least, they have in my experience."

"Sometimes a little digging is required," said Elena.

"Sometimes literally," Sully added.

Jayden scrubbed one hand through his fiery hair. "This would have been less of a mess had I gone by myself."

"It probably would have been a very short trip, considering how prepared your brother is," Nate pointed out as he resumed his exploration of the chamber.

Jayden reluctantly admitted to himself Drake was right. Sure, he was former Special Forces, but when it came to his brother, he found he was always on the losing side. He hadn't exactly passed his exams with flying colors, but he could use a gun, and he could fight. But he couldn't seem to hold his tongue when he had an opinion, which led to a dishonorable discharge after a handful of missions. When he was out of the military, he went to work for his dad, but they had been simple recoveries. Usually, he just paid someone off or broke into their house to steal back the item. It never involved brute strength, which his brother seemed to excel at. He couldn't figure out why Hayden wanted some of these artifacts so desperately. And he couldn't understand Drake's enthusiasm either. This entire job was going over his head. He just wanted his granddad's dragon.

"Gonna stand there and stare at the floor all day, or are you going to help us check the place out?" Elena teased him, interrupting his thoughts.

Jayden's head snapped up and he gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

With a small smile, Elena followed Nate into the center of the comically large chamber. Jayden tagged along, keeping a few paces behind. Although the place confused him, it was stunning. The lion statues made a bold statement as the focal point of the space. Their size, and the perfection the carvings was mind boggling. They overrode all other aspects of the room, including the pretty stone work on the floor. The builders and designers made a circular pattern with the stones, the pieces increasing in size the farther from the center point they were. Somehow they managed to make a perfect gradient with the natural shades of the stones as well, a nearly black piece in the middle, fanning out to beige-white around the outside. The walls were decorated with more soft swirls, much less pronounced than those of the previous chamber, but in keeping with the patterns.

"There's an opening in the floor here, Nate," Sully called from where he stood between the massive paws of one lion.

Nodding, Nate jogged across to the other statue. "Here, too. Is there a grate on that one?"

Sully glanced down. "Yeah."

"With an enormous rusty padlock on it?"

"Yeah. So, something is, or was, locked up down there." Sully scowled down at the grate.

"Wouldn't anything locked down there be dead by now?" Jayden asked, looking from one man to the other.

"We can hope," Nate replied, pursing his lips.

"But you're not that lucky, are you?" Jayden grumbled.

"Not by a long shot."

Groaning, Jayden scrubbed his hand over his face.

"Doesn't look like there's anything else besides the statues," Elena told them, hefting the grenade launcher she was still carting around. "But look at the floor. There may be a mechanism somewhere the raise it," she added, pointing to one of the outer circles. There was a ring around the room about three inches wide.

"Huh." Nate crossed the room to the outer ring. He scuffed his boot over it, discovering it was raised. It was only a few millimeters, not enough to even trip on, but odd. "If this comes up...I think this may have been an arena of sorts."

"Seriously?" Jayden found himself grumbling yet again.

"Maybe that other room was a trophy room or something," Elena suggested.

"Makes sense. But where did the trophies go?" Sully glanced around the room, hefting his weapon.

"Maybe no one ever won against whatever's locked up under here," Jayden offered, He decided he may as well contribute something or they'd keep ignoring him.

"Well, we either go down there and find out what that is, or was. Or we leave. Might want to check what we have for ammo just in case," Nate said, pulling the pistol from his holster. He ejected the clip into his hand, twisting his mouth to one side. "I've got eight rounds."

"Half a mag in the AK, plus two extra, and whatever I have in my pistol," Sully added.

"Two grenades left," said Elena.

"Eighteen rounds for the M16."

Nate nodded. "Too bad I lost the rifle when I went into the marsh."

"You really expect to have to kill something down there, don't you?" Jayden asked, thinking it had been a joke.

Nate glanced at Jayden from under his eyebrows. "You never know what types of things you'll find in these places."

Inhaling deeply, Jayden followed Drake to where Sully stood. The four of them looked down at the ancient, rust riddled grate. The lock would probably crumble under one good stomp. Jayden was tired of standing around. He would indulge Drake's little side quest, get his dragon, and go home. Lifting his foot, he drove his heel down onto the lock. The rusted-through metal disintegrated under the blow.

"After you," he said to Drake.

Nate raised his eyebrows at Jayden before bending down and lifting the grate open. He grunted under the weight, but the sound was drowned out by the pained squeal of rusty hinges. Once he got the grate vertical, he gave it a shove and let it fall backward to the floor with a deafening clang.

"Sully, the torch." Nate held out his hand and the older man passed him the light. Taking a deep breath that smelled heavily of dust and decay, Nate led the way into the opening. A path bore into the earth at a rough decline, the light from the statue chamber at their backs, casting heavy shadows. Their single torch barely brushed at the darkness which seemed as thick as molasses.

"There, um, seem to be a lot of bones on the ground," Jayden observed.

"Dinner at some point," replied Nate, keeping his eyes ahead. He heard the redhead's quiet groan and smirked. He was tired of the man's constant whining, and wouldn't mind leaving him down here while he, Sully, and Elena finished this one.

"That is not a good smell," Sully commented as they walked deeper into whatever animal burrow this was.

"Wasn't me," joked Nate, wrinkling up his nose. The stench was like a kennel which hadn't been cleaned in a century. Rotting meat, urine, feces, wet dog, and something else he couldn't quite identify. And it all had a warm overtone.

"It smells too fresh for there not to be something living down here," Elena said, her voice thick.

Nate had to agree, especially now since he could hear slow, steady breathing of something large not too far ahead. Like the hallway before, this path circled in on itself so he couldn't see the animal or its den, but he knew it was there.

Putting up his hand, he stopped. The others stopped behind him, standing in a knot as they listened. The breathing got a bit closer, a low growl accompanying the sound, along with the soft whisper of paws on dirt.

"Crap," breathed Nate. As curious as he was about whatever was down here, he didn't particularly feel like facing off against a monster today. Or any day, really.

"We gonna stay here and fight whatever's back there?" Sully asked, giving Nate a sideways glance.

"I think we kinda have to," Nate answered, slowly raising his pistol. The shuffling of feet on dirt continued, the ground vibrating under them as the beast got closer. Instinctively, the group started to back up.

"At least one of us is going to die before the day is out. You do realize this, right?" Jayden asked, aiming his M16 into the darkness.

Nate shrugged one shoulder, the flame of the torch bouncing gleefully. "Yeah, probably."

"You seem fine with this."

"No, not really."

The rumble got louder and louder until the monster rounded the corner before them. Nate found himself face-to-face with a massive, muscular albino lion. The creature was young and sleek, his snow white mane framing a face free of any battle scars. He even seemed groomed, like a pet.

"The lion decor makes so much sense now," Nate mumbled under his breath. The words were barely out of his mouth before the lion lunged toward them.


	7. Double Trouble

As one, the group turned, sprinting back the way they came. Nate fired over his shoulder, hoping to slow the lion down some. All he did was deafen himself. The monstrous lion's roar was dull in his ringing ears, but the rattling in his bones was clear enough. Though he wasn't sure if the big cat was toying with them, of it was ill, because it certainly wasn't chasing them with his full speed. If it had been, someone would have been lunch meat by now.

The tunnel felt a hundred times longer now with a bloodthirsty beast on their heels. Nate avoided a flat out sprint to keep the others ahead of him. If any of them got eaten today, he wanted to make sure it wasn't one of them.

He fired again. A lucky shot hit the lion's right foreleg, smattering its pristine white fur with red. The animal howled, stumbling and tripping over its wounded limb. But it kept coming. Nate could feel hot breath on his back, could smell the blood and meat of its last meal. A comment about the stench flitted through his mind, but he was too busy trying to survive to voice it.

"There's the opening!" Jayden shouted, managing a fresh burst of speed.

Nate put his hand on Elena's back, silently encouraging her to move faster. He didn't know what they would do once they were out of the pit, but thinking on the fly had become a talent of his.

Behind him, the lion roared again, the sound right on Nate's heels. He didn't chance a glance over his shoulder and risk tripping over his feet, but he swore he felt drops of saliva hitting his neck. Even with its wounded leg, it was getting closer.

As they hit the incline, the lion swiped one massive paw at Nate. Its claws mostly caught his clothes, but he didn't have time to stop and check the damage.

They erupted through the opening with every intention of making a beeline for the door, only their path was blocked. A second lion stood in their way.

Nate was last out of the tunnel, but he didn't dare stop dead like Jayden had. He veered off to the left, calling out to the others. "The statues!" It was just their luck the other tunnel housed a living albino lion as well. It must have heard the howl of the first lion and broke free from its cage.

Hoping the others got his drift, he took a wide, arching path toward the rear of one lion statue. If they climbed the statues, they could get out of reach of the cats. They would have to kill them, but it was their only chance for survival.

Both lions roared, their booming voices echoing through the chamber. It sounded as though there were dozens of lions in the room. Many different voices, pitches, and timbres, and each one seemed to carry on far too long. No, Nate corrected in his mind, they didn't _seem_ to, they _did_.

"Hurry and get to higher ground!" Nate commanded, hoisting himself up onto the tail of the statue. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see more white animals emerging from the tunnels. Never in his life had he been so happy to climb anything. The others, while daring, and capable of keeping up with him most of the time, didn't quite share his skill set.

Jayden let out a yelp as one cat rushed past him and another swiped at his heels, missing by a hair's breadth. He ran in a half arch, half zigzag toward the opposite statue, but three of the new lions--females, Nate noticed--were stalking him relentlessly. The man released a quick burst from his rifle, downing one female. Another was heading for him, muscles taught, ready to spring.

Nate watched as he climbed, but stopped short when he saw a scene that could have been straight from a movie unfolding on the ground below. One lioness was primed to pounce, and Jayden noticed, shifting his movements. If Nate blinked, he would have missed the impressive maneuver from the redhead. Just as the lioness sprang, her powerful muscles propelling her forward, Jayden bent backward. The redhead flattened himself to the ground, knees bent, heels under his butt. He slid across the stone floor, under the lioness' belly, her fur brushing his face. The oversized cat's paws hit the ground as Jayden straightened his legs and kept running. It was so fluid and perfect, Nate realized he was staring with his mouth hanging open. He was even more surprised when the man practically ran up the paw and leg of the statue closest him.

While Jayden was pretty much home free, Elena and Sully were still playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie with the two male lions and remaining lionesses.

"Jayden!" Nate called across the room, waving his arm as he tried to get the redhead's attention. Catching the man's eye, he shouted instructions to start shooting the cats. They needed to thin the numbers. Sully and Elena were working on borrowed time already, and they couldn't seem to get any closer to the statues. The lions were toying with them, trying to tire them out like a house cat with a mouse. Nate wanted to know how they were so healthy and spry after who knew how many years being locked up in cramped quarters underground. Albino lions were basically non-existent and completely unheard of in numbers like this. They had to be an unknown breed, put down here for whatever arena Jamshid was running.

Nate took aim at the large male with the wounded leg. He squeezed the trigger, but his shot missed. He succeeded in spooking it away from Elena and Sully, if only briefly. It still felt like a waste of their precious little ammo, somehow.

Across the way, Jayden had climbed up onto the opposite statue's head and was taking careful aim with his M16. His slow breathing was obvious even to Nate, as far away as he was. The former Special Forces officer tracked a lioness which was getting too close to Elena. Focusing, he squeezed the trigger. The animal's head exploded in a shower of blood.

Nate cringed, averting his eyes. He hated having to kill these beautiful animals, but he wasn't going to die in their place.

Jayden fired another shot, killing another female. The boom of the singular shots made Nate's bones vibrate. Each time Jayden pulled the trigger, another lioness crumpled to the floor. The numbers were dwindling quickly thanks to his marksmanship. The thinning pride allowed Elena to finally make her way to the same statue as Jayden. Nate watched her hoist herself up onto a leg, noticing her right pant leg was in ribbons.

That just left Sully.

And the three lions stalking him.

Nate aimed his pistol, following the wounded animal for a few seconds before pulling the trigger. The round slices through the lion's flank. Roaring, the beast threw his head back and bared his perfect white fangs. Sully fired blindly over his shoulder, spraying bullets at the predator's paws. The other male took a couple rounds in its front paws, stumbling forward into the last remaining lioness. The beasts went down in a flurry of fur, claws, and noise as they snarled and slashed at each other.

"C'mon, Sully!" Nate called down to his friend. "Take your chance while they're distracted."

"I'm tryin', Kid!" Sully called back.

"Well try harder!"

Another shot resounded through the chamber. The M16 round exploded through the lion's skull, spraying Sully's shirt with hot blood. The cat crumpled like a sack of potatoes, but Sully didn't waste time looking at him. He bolted to the closest statue while the other two lions fought. Now Jayden, Sully, and Elena were on the opposite side of the room from Nate, safe on the statue. They had to take out the last two cats since his pistol was basically useless. Elena had dropped her M32 at some point, but beside her, Sully and Jayden leveled their rifles.

Nate decided he didn't want to see the last two lions, a male and female, wiped from the face of the Earth. He started climbing back down before the men pulled their triggers.

Carefully stepping around the pools of blood seeping from the corpses, Nate circled around to the middle of the room to wait for the others. Crossing his arms, he watched them descend the statue.

"That was impressive shooting," Nate complimented Jayden.

"I tried to tell you I could use a gun," answered the redhead with a one shoulder shrug.

"Before this somehow turns into an argument, can we go see what they were guarding?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd like to see why we were almost lunch," said Sully.

"Is everyone okay?" Nate asked before they could proceed. He glanced down at Elena's leg, the cloth of her pant leg hanging in strips.

"Just a bit of a scrape. Nothing serious," she said, pulling back the shreds to reveal a line of blood on her leg. It seemed superficial.

"Good. Okay, door one, or two first?" Nate asked, turning away from the others. He took a few steps forward but stopped when Sully snorted and Elena snickered. "What's so funny?"

"I think you may have gotten a little too close to one of those lions, Nate." Sully grinned at him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh?" The only time he could remember getting close was when they were coming out of the tunnel. Twisting around to look over his shoulder, Nate couldn't see any damage. He ran his hands over his waist and backside, feeling for an injury that had somehow escaped his notice. There were no wounds, but his jeans were sliced across the pockets, the cuts going straight through his underwear in places as well. His ass showed through the slits in the denim and cotton, but it wasn't like he was complete exposed. "Some people may consider this stylish," he said.

"Those people are generally younger and prettier than you, Nate," laughed Sully.

"Yeah, it really doesn't suit you," Jayden added with a wide grin.

"Unfortunately I forgot to pack an extra pair of jeans for this little jaunt into the depths of the planet, so you'll have to live with me showing some skin for now," Nate replied with a shake of his head. He sighed to himself and led the way back into the tunnel. He kept his gun raised just in case.

Chuckling, the others followed.

Together, they backtracked down the dark tunnel, Nate leading and Sully bringing up the rear. Carefully, cautiously, Nate rounded the bend at the end of the tunnel. This had to be a den of some sort. The tunnel opened into a large, roughly circular room with another tunnel branching off the other side. The floor was covered in a thin, well-trampled layer of straw, piles of old bones, and cloth. Other than nearly intact skeletons, there wasn't anything overly interesting in the den, so they continued straight through to the next tunnel. This section of the underground passage wasn't as long as the last, and widened quickly into a natural cavern.

A blue-green lake stretched off in one direction, a rocky shore bleeding into a forest of undiscovered flora. The thick, humid air was alive with the rustle and chirps of insects and small nocturnal creatures. A diffused light filtered in from somewhere overhead, making the surface of the unnaturally still lake glitter.

"Those lions probably survived on whatever lives in the water and bushes," Jayden said as they walked toward the lake.

"Probably a good guess. So, where should we look first?" Nate crossed his arms, looking out over the water. Something small and furry scurried from under a bush nearby, ran across the toes of his boots, and disappeared into the shade of a large-leafed plant.

"What makes you think there's anything down here? Maybe the lions were just kept for sport and weren't guarding anything," Jayden suggested.

" _It waits beneath the world_ and _The Guardian Beneath the trees leads_ me to think there's something down here," Nate replied with a shrug. "Most people wouldn't write something like that just for fun. Usually, anyway."

"There's a lot of ground to cover, Nate," Elena pointed out, glancing up at him as she brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Why don't we save you the trouble?"

Nate turned at the sound of the voice. "Ah, crap." A few feet away stood Hayden, Lindsay, Percy, and three other large men with equally large weapons pointed in their direction.

"Thanks for taking care of those bothersome lions, little brother," Hayden said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Nate's mouth twitched in a grimace. This wasn't going to go well.


	8. Class Warfare

"How did you get down here, Hayden?" Jayden asked, annoyance and boredom warring in his voice.

Hayden coughed into a handkerchief. Nate noticed speckles of blood on his chin before he wiped them away. If possible, he looked even sweatier than he had last time, and the color of his skin was taking on the color of death.

"The forest is peppered with caves and tunnels. We just found the back way in, that's all." The elder Risyn brother shrugged, tucking his stained handkerchief into his pocket.

"I never understand how the bad guys always seem to be one step ahead of us," Sully grumbled.

"Bad is a relative term. But I'd keep my trap shut if I were you, old man. You and the woman aren't exactly on my good side after destroying my camp. If you don't want to end up as chew toys for my new dogs, you'll keep your opinion to yourself," Hayden snarled at Sully before turning his charming grin back to Nate and Jayden.

"Your dogs? That's not a very nice thing to call Percy and Lindsay, Hayden," Nate said, clicking his tongue and holding up a hand to cut Sully off before he could argue.

The grin slipped to a smirk. "You're amusing, Nathan. But I assure you, when I said dogs, I was speaking of real four-legged beasts. Well, perhaps _real_ isn't the proper term. My dogs are more mythological in nature."

Nate furrowed his brow at Hayden, thinking. He could feel Sully and Elena's eyes on him, waiting for him to figure out what Hayden was talking about. His shoulders fell and he let his head hang. "You're kidding me," he mumbled.

Hayden beamed at Nate, proud he understood. "I'm not. They're quite real, Nathan. The hounds Yama used to guard Hell." Hayden paused. "And now they belong to me."

Nate could hear Sully's jaw hit the ground. "Hellhounds? Are you freakin' nuts?"

"Would you like to see them for yourself?" Hayden questioned with a raised eyebrow. Behind him, Percy and Lindsay tried to hide their trepidation.

"Y'know, we're getting a bit off topic here. I'd like to see what the lions were guarding," Nate redirected, keeping his voice flat.

Hayden exposed his teeth as his smirk widened. "Well in that case, I suppose we can kill two birds with one stone. I put the statuettes in the care of my new pets." Raising his hand to his mouth, Hayden put his thumb and middle finger to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. Silently from the bushes to either side of Hayden's crew, a massive black beast appeared. One came and stood on his left, the other on his right, their giant heads reaching Hayden's shoulders. Like the folklore described, each dog had four eyes and wide nostrils. Their shaggy wolf-like fur rippled in a non-existent air current. Their power, both physical and mystical was visible in their muscular shoulders, chests, and legs ending in paws bigger than a man's head.

A shiver raced down Nate's spin. These horrifying, mythological, four-eyed dog monsters standing next to Hayden were solid and ghostly simultaneously. Each of their four eyes was flat black, empty, and soul-sucking. It was almost impossible not to stare into them.

Hayden put one hand on top of each dog's head. The air around his arms became hazy and rippled. He flinched but didn't move his hands.

"Boys, show me your Worth."

The animals let out a low, far-off sound reminiscent of distant thunder as they bowed their heads. Closing their eyes, they extended one foreleg. A gentle rumble rolled through the ground beneath their feet and the dogs lifted their heads. Between their paws, each one had two golden statuettes.

"Do those mean anything to you, Nate?" Sully asked, his eyes locked on the dogs.

Nate inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly as he eyed each statuette. A sun, a spear and sword, a sickle and hoe, and a pair of hands holding a bolt of fabric. "The four classes," he concluded.

"What four classes?" Jayden asked, watching his brother.

"Let's see how much you know on the subject, Nathan. Tell your friends and my brother what each statuette symbolizes," Hayden instructed, crossing his arms. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, and his eyes struggled to focus.

"Are you sure you don't just want me to explain it all because you really have no clue?" Nate asked, well aware he was risking bodily harm by poking the bear.

The dogs lowered their heads, growling.

Nate raised his hands. "Okay, okay. The sun is for the Priests who worshiped Hormozd. The sword and spear for the Warriors who protected the people with their strength. The sickle and hoe represent the Farmers who grew grain to feed the people. And the hands are for the Artisans who created things for the people so their lives could be easier, and they were kept entertained. The four classes served Jamshid, a favored leader until the power of the Cup made him go mad."

"Very good, Nathan! It seems you aren't so single minded in your knowledge after all. I bet you also know where these belong." The last syllable of Hayden's words was clipped short as he yanked out his handkerchief and coughed violently into the cloth.

Nate glanced at Jayden and didn't miss the spark of concern in his eyes.

"Well, Nathan?" Hayden croaked, tucking his handkerchief away again.

"We didn't see anywhere to put those," said Nate, eyeing the dogs. They never blinked, which somehow unnerved him more than the four eyes.

Disappointment washed over Hayden's features. "You're a terrible liar, Nathan. It's sad you would think me such an idiot. You know what to do with these, and you know how to get me the Cup. I think you'll need a little motivation to help me though."

Nate and his group took a collective step back, raising their weapons. Hayden's resulting laugh irritated Nate.

The elder Risyn touched his dogs again, trying to hide the pain he felt. "Guard," he instructed them.

The mythical beasts moved forward. Despite their massive frames and enormous feet, they made no sound. They didn't care about the rifles and handgun trained on them as they crossed the space between Hayden and Nate. One dog stepped up to Nate, staring unblinkingly. After a moment it huffed in disdain and placed itself between Nate and Elena. The other dog moved between Elena and Sully, isolating her.

Jayden took a few steps away from the beasts. "What the hell are you doing, Hayden?"

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Hayden looked from one Hellhound to the other, satisfied. "I need the Cup. If Nathan tries to do anything to impede that, my dogs will tear her skin off and damn her to Hell. It's that simple."

Elena clenched her jaw, raising her head defiantly. The slight twitch of her brow and tension in her shoulders belying the fear which didn't show on her face.

"Crap." Pursing his lips, Nate stared at Elena's profile while weighing his options.

"I don't think you have much of a choice, Kid," Sully told him quietly.

"Hayden's kinda stubborn, and a lot crazy, Drake. When he wants something, he'll do anything to get it," Jayden whispered.

"Nate, if this thing is as powerful as you say, you can't let him get his hands on it," Elena said, turning her head to meet his eyes. Her gaze darted down to the dog next to her, which came up to her chin. She was dwarfed by the beasts.

"Elena, I--"

"Nate," she interrupted, cutting him off with a sharp look.

Licking his lips, Nate begrudgingly holstered his pistol. Meeting Sully's eyes, the two men stared at one another until the older man finally lowered his AK.

"I'll help you, but I need my journal back," Nate said, hands clenched at his sides.

Hayden shrugged, reaching into his pocket. "There's nothing more of interest in it to me anyway," he replied, tossing the small leather book back to Nate. "Lead the way, Nathan."

Clenching his jaw to choke back a string of nasty words, Nate headed back the way they had come. He was well aware of the guns aimed at his back, and the massive, mysterious Hellhounds flanking Elena. Being forced to help a psychopath find the equivalent of the Holy Grail wasn't improving his already sour mood. He was sure Hayden only wanted the Cup because he was sick, and probably dying. Though whatever illness plagued him, no one should have immortality. Jamshid had the Elixir of Life, but after a long rule, he had still died when his people turned on him.

As Nate led the group back through the tunnel and arena toward the pedestal room, he wracked his brain to come up with a way to separate the hounds from Elena. He was drawing blanks. On the dogs, and the statuettes. There were more than four pedestals in the room, and he had no clue as to their placement. And focusing wasn't exactly his strong suit at the moment.

When the group entered the pedestal room, a ripple of whispers moved through Hayden's people as they took in the amazing motif of gemstones.

"You guys are easily impressed," Nate teased, his voice and expression equally flat.

Hayden scoffed, strolling casually into the center of the room. His eyes roamed over the ornately carved walls, to the chandelier, and back to the floor. He quirked a brow at the design, tipping his head to one side. Stifling another coughing fit, he slid his hands into his pockets and slowly turned to face Nate. "All right, Nathan. Let's see how quickly your mind works. I'll give you five minutes to do what you need to do before my pets condemn the girl."

Nate's eyes grew wide. "Oh c'mon!" he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "Stop acting like you have any idea what's going on! You just stumbled onto those statuettes by accident and have no idea what they, or this room are for. Just like I have no idea where the hell you found those dogs. I also don't know why such powerful creatures would willingly follow someone who's head is as far up his own ass as you. So stop acting so high and mighty and let me do my job." Feeling slightly better, Nate took a deep breath and turned his attention to the pedestals and the problem at hand.

Hayden raised his eyebrows, bloodshot eyes on Nate. He didn't speak, just motioned for Percy and Lindsay to bring the statuettes forward. They placed them in the center of the room and rejoined the men at the perimeter.

Taking out his journal and the pencil tucked into the spine, Nate took a moment to sketch the statuettes while thinking about the puzzle. He had four statuettes and fifteen platforms, not including the one with the flat top. Was there a particular pedestal for each one?

The Priest.

The Warrior.

The Farmer.

The Artisan.

What order did they need to be placed? Was one more important than the others?

"Three minutes, Nathan."

"I'm thinking! I've got nothing to go on here."

Elena let out a whimper and Nate's train of thought came to a screeching halt. He looked over at her and felt his heart leap into his throat. The dogs were leaning on Elena in a seemingly affectionate and companionable way, but this was not the case. The air around the woman was wavy and blurred like a highway on a hot day. And parts of her seemed to be phasing in and out. Her eyebrows twitched in pain and she held her mouth in a tight line.

"You're wasting time, Nathan. Two minutes left," Hayden informed him.

Nate forced his brain back to the puzzle with great difficulty. Priest, Warrior, Farmer, Artisan. How the hell was he supposed to know the order? He had nothing to work from!

"One minute."

"Shut up!" Nate's heart was pounding in his chest as his eyes darted between the four golden statuettes and the platforms. He turned in a slow circle, gaze sliding from one platform to the next. There was an odd placement to them. Five of them were slightly larger, one of which was the flat topped one. So the statuettes would go on those four. But what about the other eleven? And why where they spaced oddly, one on either side of the main platform while the rest were even around the circle after the two larger pedestals?

Elena let out a pained groan.

"Ten...nine...eight..."

Nate frantically eyed the room, scanning the stony faces of the people around the walls.

"Five...four...three..."

A light bulb clicked on in Nate's head.

"Two..."

"I've got it! I've figured it out!" Nate called, raising his hands. "I know what I have to do." The strain in his voice grated on his ears.

"Good, because her time is up."

Near the entrance to the room, Elena screamed.


	9. For The People

"Elena!" Nate wanted to run to her, but he knew Hayden would kill her immediately if he moved.

"She doesn't have long, Nathan. It would be smart to tell me the solution before all that remains of her is a puddle of blood on this beautiful floor," Hayden said, wiping sweat from his brow.

Nate looked at Elena, jaw clenched, brow furrowed. The hounds were still leaning on her, using their powers. Parts of her were going transparent, and blood dripped from her fingers even though she had no visible wounds.

"We gotta do _something_ , Kid," Sully grimaced, eyes darting from Nate to Elena.

Nate cursed under his breath. He knew he had to do this, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Call them off first."

"Why would I do that?"

"A show of good faith? We can't do anything to you. We're outnumbered. No matter how you spin it, you have the upper hand, Hayden." To make his point clear, he pulled the pistol from his holster and tossed it to the floor. "See? Nothing I can do. But if you kill her..."

Surprisingly, Jayden threw down his own weapon.

With pursed lips, Sully sighed and grumbled something under his breath. He didn't throw down his weapons, but handed them off to the nearest of Hayden's mercenaries.

"Let her go, Hayden. Please." Jayden's pinched expression told Nate how painful it was for the redhead to ask anything of his brother.

The elder Risyn hemmed and hawed for what felt like an eternity. Blood continued to drip from Elena's fingertips, and now from her hairline. Hayden watched her suffer, his lips curled in perverse satisfaction. Eventually, he nodded. "Away," he commanded the animals. They obeyed, standing up straight and padding silently from the room. Elena wobbled, trying to keep her legs beneath her, but after a few seconds her knees gave way and she collapsed.

Again, Nate had to force himself not to move. Sully went to her side, which made him feel only a little better. The threat of someone winding up with a bullet in their skull had not yet passed, though.

"Nathan, I did as you requested, so stop stalling and get this done," Hayden growled through gritted teeth. His voice had lost all traces of false geniality.

Nate clenched his jaw as he went to grab the first of the four statuettes. The Priest. Walking across the circle, he placed the statuette on the first larger pedestal to the ledge of the main, flat-topped one. Next, he placed the Warrior on the first larger pedestal to the right of the main one. Three of the smaller platforms separated the Warrior from the next large pedestal, on which he placed the Farmer. Another three smaller pedestals, then he placed the Artisan. An additional three closed the circle.

"You've put them all down. Why is nothing happening?" Hayden demanded, eyes wide.

"Because I'm not done yet," Nate told him with a bitter smile. "Jayden, go stand with the Warrior," he instructed.

Narrowing his eyes and wrinkling up his nose, Jayden gave Nate an odd look but obliged. Crossing the circle, he hopped up onto the pedestal, the Warrior figure between his feet. A soft click echoed through the room.

"Okay, who here is religious? And I mean _really_ religious?" Nate asked the men. Lindsay raised his hand.

"I'm Ordained."

Nate blinked up at the big man. "Seriously? Uh, okay. You know where you need to be." Shaking his head, he waited for the man to step onto his pedestal. There was another click. "So, you see where this is going, right? Next, I need an Artisan. Someone who creates things for the good of others. Don't care what you make, as long as it benefits others."

Reluctantly, Percy parted from the group and stepped up onto the third pedestal. It clicked.

"Farmer?" Nate raised his eyebrows at the mercenaries. This felt like a serious long shot.

"My parent's farm, and I have a garden," one man finally admitted.

"Good enough," Nate told him with a shrug.

The man took his post. Click.

Nate inhaled deeply, speaking on exhale. "Okay Sully, I want you between the main pedestal and the Priest. Hayden between the main and Warrior," he told them. The men took their places. "Great. Now I need the rest of you to fill up the remaining spots. Doesn't matter where." Once the mercenaries took their places, Nate eyed the last remaining pedestal, hands on hips.

"What now, Nate? I feel like we're waiting to become museum pieces," Sully complained, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Nate glanced over his shoulder to where Elena was slumped against the wall, chin resting against her chest. "Normally I would think Jamshid would take center stage, but since he's not here, I guess I'll fill in." Sighing and shrugging one shoulder, Nate hopped up onto the last pedestal and waited.

"Why is nothing happening?" Hayden demanded.

Nate opened his mouth to reply when there was a series of clicks, bangs, and the sound of stone grinding on stone. The floor started vibrating beneath their feet, and dust snowed from the ceiling onto their heads. Nate's pedestal rumbled and started to move. It jerked backward roughly as the old rusty mechanism ground into action. He stumbled, but kept his balance, riding it out. Eventually, it slid all the way open, revealing an ancient, crumbling stone staircase descending at a steep angle.

A grin, half-crazed, swept across Hayden's pasty features.

"Care to explain, Nate? Because that made no Goddamn sense," Sully said, glancing from Nate, to the staircase, and back.

Nate huffed through his nose, spreading his hands wide as he hopped from the platform. "It was a serious long shot. The only recurring theme, and clue, I had to go on was _people_. Jamshid did everything he could to better the lives of his subjects, and was loved by them in turn. Until the power drove him crazy, anyway. Besides the statuettes and their companions, I'm pretty sure the rest of the mechanism was just weight based. Probably could'a just put rocks on them."

"Enough talking," wheezed Hayden, stifling more coughing. "Nathan, I believe you should have the honor of going in first."

"How sweet of you to think of me," grumbled Nate. "Give me a minute," he said to the man as he walked to where Elena sat against the wall. Squatting next to her, he put a hand on her shoulder. She furrowed her brow, blinking up at him as her eyes struggled to focus.

"Nate," she mumbled, pressing her hand to her forehead.

"You okay?" he asked with a soft smile.

Squeezing her eye shut, she scowled deeply. "I feel drained," she told him.

"Not surprising," he replied, eyes darting over her face and arms, searching for wounds. None existed, and there was no blood on her skin anymore. "Do you think you can stand?

Elena thought about it for a moment, flexing her legs. "Yeah, I'm good. Help me up."

Nate took Elena's hands, slick with sweat, and hauled her to her feet. Well aware of everyone's eyes on him, he helped her across the room and handed her over to Sully.

Hayden, who had been surprisingly patient, was clearly losing his temper. He stopped Nate as he headed to the stairs and grabbed the front of his mud-encrusted shirt. With a sharp yank, he pulled Nate forward so they were nose-to-nose.

"I have tolerated your delays and dawdling long enough, Drake. Only because I need you for the tasks I am too weak to complete myself. But I can always do away with you and use my less experienced little brother in your stead if need be. I just have to say a simple word and my dogs will be back, understand?" Hayden hissed in Nate's face.

Nate flinched at the smell of death and rot on Hayden's breath. "Have you hidden behind stronger people your entire life, or just since you learned you were dying?" Nate asked him, shoving Hayden's hands away.

The men glared at one another, testing each other. Things were getting dangerously close to a fist fight before Jayden interfered. He shouldered between the two, separating them.

"Drake, let's just get this over with," the redhead whispered, pretending his brother wasn't standing behind him.

Nate glanced at Jayden, then past him to his brother before turning away. Jayden fell into step beside him, snatching a flashlight from a mercenary on the way by.

"You don't seem concerned your brother is dying. Or that he's searching for a cure by way of immortality," Nate commented, giving Jayden a sideways glance.

He shrugged, the flashlight beam bouncing with the movement. "That's just how things are between us. We're brothers in name only, since there's no bond between us at all. He was always jealous of my ability to actually get things done under my own steam, and we never had anything in common. We're strangers, and honestly, would you care if a stranger died? As far as the whole immortality thing goes, I'm pretty sure you won't let that happen." Jayden panned the light over the narrow walls of the stairwell. Wherever they were going, it was a long way down.

"Besides," Jayden huffed, "the man wanted to torture me for _fun_."

"Fair enough," Nate conceded. "Christ, would it have killed these people to build things at ground level? Or at the very least, not at the center of the Earth? I'm not Jules Verne."

Jayden's amused snort echoed oddly in the passage. "I wouldn't mind an escalator."

"Or elevator."

"Would you two shut up?" grumbled Lindsay, trailing a few feet behind as he followed them down the stairs.

"For a man named Lindsay, you don't have a very good sense of humor," Nate told the big guy as they continued their descent.

"I'm not paid to have a sense of humor," Lindsay answered.

Nate scoffed, shaking his head. "Hey, I think that's the bottom," he said, pointing into the darkness.

Jayden shone his light down the steps. A single wooden door capped the bottom of the stairwell. It was heavy, knotted, and splintering, with huge rusty hinges, and a rusty metal band across the center. The handle was an enormous ring of thick, pitted steel. From behind the door, there was a long, low, pained moan.

"Oh, that's not a good sound."


	10. Guardian

The moan came again and Jayden and Nate exchanged a glance.

"You first, bud," said Jayden, nudging Nate.

"You have the flashlight."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Hayden asked you to go first."

Nate stared at Jayden, eyes narrow. "Seriously?"

Jayden answered with a sweeping gesture toward the door.

"Thanks for the support, pal." Nate snatched the flashlight from Jayden and descended the last few steps. Pursing his lips, he stared at the door like it would give him insight into what was on the other side. Squaring his shoulders, he lifted the pitted metal ring and pushed on the door.

"Well?" Jayden tipped his head, trying to see past Nate's shoulder.

"It's stuck."

"What? No way."

"I think the wood has swollen over the years. Give me a hand." He crooked a finger at Jayden, leaning one shoulder against the door. With an annoyed sigh, the redhead joined him, putting his own shoulder to the door. "Okay, on the count of three. One...two...three!" Together the men slammed themselves against the door. Even with all their weight behind them, the door barely shook. They tried again. And again. And again.

"My whole arm is bruised," Jayden complained, rubbing his shoulder.

"What's the holdup?" Lindsay asked, stomping down the stairs to join Nate and Jayden.

"Door's stuck."

Grumbling, Lindsay shoved Nate aside. The big man regarded the door for a moment, contemplating how to open it. Everything was quiet as Nate and Jayden watched him. Suddenly the man leaned back, lifted his foot, and slammed his boot into the center of the metal band. With a squeal, the hinges popped from the stone and the door collapsed inward, hitting the floor with a resounding crash.

Nate had to stop his jaw from hitting the floor. He blinked at the hole where the door had been, then up at Lindsay. "We loosened it for you."

Lindsay glowered at Nate for a moment before grabbing the back of his shirt and shoving him into the darker-than-black room. Stumbling, the toe of Nate's boot caught the bottom of the door. He managed to right himself before kissing the floor, which by the feel of it beneath his feet, was probably for the best. The stench wafting from the floor solidified his relief at not tripping.

"Uhh...hello?" Nate called into the room, the light of his flashlight beam absorbed by the blackness surrounding him.

"You think someone's gonna answer you?" Jayden asked from the doorway.

"I'm really hoping not," he replied, pointing the light at his feet. "Uh, guys? Floors don't normally _pulsate_ do they?"

"Only when I'm really drunk," said Jayden. "Why?"

"Because I think I may be standing on something living," Nate told them before the 'floor' lurched beneath his feet. "Whoa!" The beam from the flashlight waved wildly as Nate tried to maintain balance.

Whatever unnaturally huge beast Nate was standing on snorted a breath in his face. The foul-smelling snort was a gale force wind, nearly knocking him on his ass. After breathing on him, it started snuffling him, sucking him forward just by inhaling. It was smelling him, and Nate was admittedly terrified because he couldn't see what it was. But he wasn't being eaten yet which was a good sign.

"I hear something _really_ big breathing. You okay?" Jayden called, leaning into the room.

"For the second." Nate let out a breath, staying still while the monster investigated him. He was worried if he moved a muscle, it would swallow him whole. It continued to sniff him, emitting the pained moan they heard earlier.

Nate was debating whether he should make a run for it, or hang around when light flooded the room. One second it was too dark, the next his eyes burned to the point of tearing at the illumination. He blinked, tears running down his dirt-streaked face. Wiping them away and looking past the weird after images from the light change, Nate blinked again to make sure he was seeing things right. Two enormous yellow eyes stared at him, disturbingly lizard like. His first thought was _Dragon!_.

"Holy shit!"

Nate chanced a quick peek over his shoulder to where Lindsay and Jayden stood in the doorway. Their eyes were wide, mouths hanging open, and were leaning back slightly like they were ready to bolt.

With his eyes back on the creature before him, and under him, Nate looked past the giant yellow orbs watching him intently. He was standing on a peeling, dark green, scale covered body, just off to the side of long spiky protrusions. The spikes trailed along the creature's back, from the top of its iguana-like head to the end of its lengthy tail. A horn grew on either side of its skull, curving back and toward the ceiling. It tipped its head to one side, a forked tongue flicking in the air around Nate, tasting him. He didn't budge while it did this, keeping his gaze focused on the yellow and purple streaks next to the thing's eyes.

The lizard moaned again, but this time the low sound escalated into an excited squeal.

"Uhh?" Brow furrowed, Nate looked over his shoulder to where Jayden was rooted to the spot, stunned. The lizard moved and Nate lost his footing, slipping on an enormous scale. Between the thumping of his heart and trying to stay upright, Nate noticed the lizard's face was changing. The features were shifting and shrinking before his eyes.

"Oh no, oh crap! Crap, crap, crap!" Despite his efforts, Nate's feet came out from under him and he fell. It wasn't a long fall thankfully, and he hit the ground only a split second after tumbling. He landed flat on his back, hard enough to force the air from his lungs. He stared at the ceiling, eyes half closed, wheezing. "Oww..."

Excited chirps, sharp and clicking, came from somewhere to Nate's right. Begrudgingly, he turned his head to see what was making the sounds. Frowning as he sat up, he flicked a glance at his companions. "Did I hit my head on the way down? Are you guys seeing this too?"

Jayden's eyes were enormous as he gawked at the figure standing next to Nate. "Unless this is a mass hallucination, we are all seeing a naked lizard lady."

"Awesome." Nate turned to the female whatever-she-was and stared at her, unsure if she was real. Before him stood a naked, scaly, green-skinned woman. She held his gaze, looking up at him with the same bright yellow eyes of the big lizard. Tilting her head to one side, she chirped at him again, blinking with bizarre translucent eyelids.

"Holy crap. She's a lizard." Nate watched her observing him, head tilting from one side to the other as she scampered around him on all fours. On top of her head she had long, fleshy tentacles which seemed to take the place of hair. They hung down her back, limp and heavy as they swayed with her movements. She never seemed to notice as they brushed across the spikes running down her back. She grinned, barring her razor sharp teeth. Nate's eyebrows shot upward as he took an involuntary step backward. She wasn't concerned by his reaction.

Nate held her gaze, noticing the same yellow and purple stripes by her eyes. As she closed the distance between them, her forked tongue poked between her mossy green lips. Flicking her tongue at him, she tasted the mud and sweat on his face. When she was satisfied with that, she extended a four-fingered hand toward him, touching the stubble on his jaw. Her touch was slightly sticky but didn't leave any residue behind.

"I think she likes you," Jayden commented after she let out a delighted trill and pressed herself against Nate.

"Uh, yeah. I'm getting that." Nate looked down at her with an unsteady smile.

"Stop wasting time. What is this place, and what is her purpose?" Lindsay demanded, making sure they didn't miss the gun in his hand.

Nate raised his arms. "Calm down, Big Guy. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this eventually," he said before turning back to the lizard woman. "Can you talk? Because that would be really helpful."

Head tilting in a jerky motion, she blinked up at him again.

"Of course not," sighed Nate. "It's probably silly of me to ask if you have a name."

She replied with a strange clicking sound in her throat and showed her teeth again. She tipped her head, her hair-tentacles swaying to one side. There was a long, awkward moment while she just stared at him. She didn't move, didn't blink, didn't even twitch. Nate almost jumped out of his skin when she finally did move as it was such an abrupt motion. Grabbing his arm, she started pulling him toward the back wall.

"I think she wants to show me something," Nate said, allowing himself to be pulled along.

"No shit."

Grunting his impatience, Lindsay tagged along behind, gripping his gun a little tighter than necessary.

As she led him, Nate took the chance to check out the room. Compared to the grand scale of the other chambers, this one was on the boring side. It was a simple stone room, the walls rough and uneven. The floor wasn't much better and had puddles of stagnant water scattered everywhere. It appeared to be a standard cave except for the light that came from no discernible light source.

The lizard woman was taking Nate to a waist-high stone shelf which protruded six feet from the back wall. Set into the shelf was a natural basin filled with an altogether unnatural water which swirled but remained still at the same time. The reflection it showed was a clear, star-filled night sky, though only stone was overhead.

Nate couldn't help the small gasp that escaped his lips. He looked from the basin to the lizard woman. "This is it, isn't it?" he asked her, eyes twinkling with excitement. "This is the Elixir of Life!"

"You're kidding?" Jayden stepped up next to Nate, checking out the water. His eyes doubled in size. "Seriously?"

A small chuckle rumbled Nate's throat. "Yeah, this is it. I'm sure of it!" Grinning from ear to ear, he leaned over the basin, peering into the water.

"If you're sure," Lindsay said, his voice hard. He pulled a radio from his pocket. "Drake found it."

There was no reply from the radio, but the sound of footfalls echoed down the stairs and into the chamber. An icy chill raced down Nate's spine as he waited for Hayden with Jayden and Lindsay.


	11. Chaotic Evil

Hopping up onto the stone shelf, the lizard woman dug her talons into the rock. She seemed to sense Nate's unease, putting her hands on his shoulders and yanking him backward. Though her grip was painfully tight, her claws barely grazed his shirt. The pressure of her fingers was enough to make him wince.

"It's okay," Nate reassured her. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to placate her. She could transform into a giant lizard, so he was pretty sure she didn't need his assistance. Though the way she clutched his shoulders, whining, said otherwise.

Jayden backed up to stand next to Nate as they waited for everyone to come down the stairs. He cast a sideways glance at the odd pair. "This is not going to go well," he whispered. "I've already told you how crazy my brother is. If that stuff really is the Elixir, you can't let him get his hands on it."

"I know. I don't think our new friend wants that, either. She's gonna put holes in my shoulders if she squeezes any harder."

Jayden's eyes darted to where she perched. She seemed ready to pounce on anything which came near Nate or the basin. "Let's hope she can scare him off."

Nate nodded as Hayden appeared in the doorway. Disappointment creased his brow as he entered the cave.

"How dull," he grumbled, descending the short incline separating the entrance and basin.

Sully and Elena came down next, followed by Percy and the rest of the crew. "It's pretty plain," Sully agreed.

"Guess Jamshid's opulence didn't need to carry through to this," Nate replied, trying to shrug and failing.

Sully's eye found Nate and grew comically large. "Christ! What the hell is that?" he demanded, gawking at the lizard woman.

"Sully," Nate began, trying to think of something to call her when it hit him. "I'd like you to meet The Guardian."

Guardian leaned over Nate's shoulder to look at him, chirping in his ear. The sound was very much a question. She was asking about Sully. Nate answered her with a small nod, watching Hayden's expression change to intrigue.

"Guardian?" he asked, raising a brow. "The guardians were the lions."

"Yeah, I thought so too. But I'm pretty sure _she's_ the real Guardian. When we got down here she was actually a giant lizard...thing. She changed into this when she determined I wasn't a threat," explained Nate.

Hayden looked to Lindsay for confirmation. The big man nodded.

"Shoot it," Hayden commanded.

The guns came up.

"Wait!" Nate shouted, raising his arms. "We need her!"

"How do you know that?"

Nate tried not to roll his eyes. "C'mon. I know you have the cup. And I know you know it says _The Guardian Beneath the trees holds the key_..."

"That does sound like a pretty good indicator," Sully remarked.

Hayden shot a glare at the older man. "Fine. It lives for now. Get out of the way so I can see the Elixir." Hayden's words were clipped as he started coughing again. His face was red and he struggled to breathe when the fit subsided.

"I'd love to," Nate said when the coughing stopped, "but Guardian has a pretty firm grip on me." He could easily move if he wanted, but he had a theory to test that would only work if Hayden got close to Guardian.

Sully looked at Nate with raised eyebrows, lips slightly parted. Nate answered with a shrug of his own brows.

"There's still plenty of room to look though. Don't let me stop you," he continued, turning his attention back to Hayden. "Jayden, make some room. Go stand with Sully."

Scowling, Jayden glanced at Nate. "Uh...okay." Raising his hands so no one would shoot him, he stepped away from the basin.

Hayden and Nate stared one another down. Nate maintained his curious, innocent expression until the other man gave in and crossed to the basin. Despite the bags under his eyes, pallid, sweat-drenched skin, and labored breathing, he kept his chin raised proudly as he walked.

Behind Nate, Guardian started to hiss softly, leaning closer to him. Her lips curled back, exposing her sharp teeth. He noticed her scaly skin began taking on a red hue. Casting a nervous sidelong glance at her, Hayden continued forward. When he was within arm's reach, Guardian leaped up onto Nate's shoulders like a parrot, almost knocking him on his ass. She had gone angry red, had fins coming out of her neck like a Frilled Lizard, and hissed loudly. The hissing only stopped long enough for her to spit at Hayden instead.

Hayden nearly tripped over himself trying to back up. For a brief moment utter terror masked his features, but it fell flat as he regained his composure.

"Oh look, Hayden. Someone else who hates you," stated Jayden, raising a brow and leaning his weight on one leg as he crossed his arms.

Without his expression changing, Hayden tugged his pistol from the waistband of his pants, turned toward his brother, and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed and Jayden sucked a breath between his teeth. Blood ran down the redhead's arm and dripped from his fingers.

"Learn to keep your mouth shut. Next time I will kill you," growled Hayden, slipping his weapon back into his waistband.

Gritting his teeth, Jayden rolled his eyes. "Don't pretend that's not what you intended to do anyway. You've always been a shit shot." Staring at his brother, he let his arm bleed freely.

"You scream like a girl when you get grazed, but barely even flinch when he actually shoots you?" Nate questioned, eyes wide.

Jayden shrugged his good shoulder. "I was putting on an act earlier."

Nate narrowed his eyes at the redhead as Guardian bent over him, chattering by his ear. Her weight made it hard to keep his balance, and it didn't help she kept fidgeting. She had her feet on his shoulders, the rest of her body contorted, twisting over him, clutching his shirt. She continued to chatter in his ear and for some reason he couldn't comprehend, he could understand her as clearly as though she were speaking English.

"She thinks you're a bad man for wounding the blood-haired one," Nate relayed. "Not that any of us thought you were all that great before."

"Enough!" bellowed Hayden. His face was red, veins popping out on his neck as he practically vibrated with rage. With a clenched jaw, Hayden went back to one of his men who carried a large pack. Everyone watched as he tore open the zipper and began to rummage around inside.

Guardian chirped in Nate's ear again, climbing back down onto the basin and gently knocking one of her curved horns against the side of his head. While Hayden searched the pack, she let go of Nate and hopped to the floor. Standing up straight, she walked forward, her talons tapping lightly on the stone floor. Her long, thick tail swayed gently with her movements. A few of Hayden's men raised their weapons, unsure.

Sully and Nate exchanged an uneasy glance.

Panic sparked in Hayden's eyes when he looked up to see how close Guardian was. He didn't have time to react before she raised her arm and backhanded the man standing between them. The mercenary went flying, hitting the wall with a solid thud before sliding to the floor, unconscious.

"If you're smart, you'll back down before this goes any further," Sully told Hayden, readjusting his grip on Elena.

"She's the Guardian for a reason," Nate said, shrugging by way of his eyebrows.

The elder Risyn wasn't listening. "Why isn't anyone shooting her? What do I pay you idiots for?" he demanded with a crack in his voice as his eyes darted between his mercenaries.

"You don't pay us enough to deal with shit like this, mate," one of them replied, watching as Guardian's scales faded into red again. She stepped forward on one foot, arms and shoulders back as she bent at the waist, hissing violently at Hayden. The fins opened again as she spit some sort of viscous, foul-smelling liquid at the man. The mercenaries backed up, excluding Percy and Lindsay, who remained with Sully and Elena.

Taking a few steps back, stumbling, Hayden let out a sharp whistle. From the door, the Hell Hounds appeared once again. "Attack!" he shouted, scooping up the pack the unconscious mercenary had dropped.

Upon seeing the dogs, Guardian hesitated. She looked to Nate, taking in his grim expression. She seemed to get what she needed from him because her eyes darkened and she went after the dogs. The massive beasts were on her in and instant, snarling and gnashing their teeth like any rabid dog. Guardian grabbed one, flinging it aside. It didn't make a sound or flinch, as it slammed against the wall. Rising smoothly to its feet, it charged her again. As she sunk her fangs into one dog, the other did the same to her. Kicking out her leg, she shook the beast off, slashing her talons across its muzzle. It snarled and gnashed at her while she tore a chunk of ghostly flesh and fur from the other with her fangs. Tossing the mutt over her head, it hit a man who wasn't quite quick enough to move out of the way. The result was horrific. He screamed as the skin melted from his face. He clawed at the bare muscle while his eyeballs turned to liquid and his clothes burst into flame. The remainder of his flesh and muscle sloughed from his skeleton into a wet pile on the ground. It took less than ten seconds.

"Christ," muttered Sully, pulling Elena way from the action.

Nate didn't let the fight distract him as long as the others. He knew Guardian could hold her own. She wouldn't be here to take care of the Elixir of Life if she couldn't. She wouldn't be the one who decided who was worthy if she couldn't.

Hayden hadn't let the distraction hold his attention either, it seemed. With the pack, he crouched behind a rock shelf to continue his search through the bag. His formerly combed hair fell in his wide eyes and stuck to his sweaty, waxy skin. Whatever condition plagued him had deteriorated since they met less than a day ago.

Nate chose to take now as his chance to act. Guardian was fighting hard, her scale covered in blood. Bites perforated her armor, but she didn't let it stop her. The mercenaries were all watching like they had placed bets on the outcome. Nate took a couple slow, bored steps, making sure no one was watching before breaking into a flat out sprint. He raced toward the closest armed man. When he got close, he jumped, driving his fist into the man's face and knocking him to the ground. Nate snatched up his weapon just as the others turned and fired on him.

"What the hell? _I'm_ the bigger threat here?" he shouted, sprinting back across the open area to cover. Firing blind as he ran, he hit two of the mercenaries.

"No, but you're one we can handle," Lindsay called, returning fire.

To get an upper hand on Nate, Percy tried to grab Sully, not expecting him to fight back. Even with Elena at his side, Sully could still put up a hell of a fight. He ducked out of Percy's reach and drove his elbow into the man's ribs. Percy doubled over, surprised more than injured, and Sully took the opportunity to kick him, knocking him on his ass.

"Take her and get out of here!" Nate ordered, punching another man in the throat.

"No way in hell am I leaving you here, Kid!" Sully shouted back.

"I'll be fine, just go!"

"I'm not going anywhere," stated Elena, trying to stand on her own. Bending down, she picked up a gun which had skittered across the floor to stop at her feet.

A bullet grazed Nate's cheek before he could argue. He had been stationary too long. He moved again, picking his way toward Hayden.

On his feet again, Percy aimed his gun at Sully. Jayden, who had been silently protecting himself, saw the weapon trained on the older man. Changing direction mid-step, he sprinted toward the gunman. Diving toward Percy, Jayden grabbed him around the waist and the pair hit the ground hard. They tumbled across the uneven rock and through puddles, and when they came to a stop, Jayden started throwing punches. They struggled against one another, giving and taking hits. When the butt of Percy's weapon smashed against Jayden's jaw, his head snapped to the side, but he didn't give up.

Jayden's injured arm dangled uselessly at his side as he fought against the other man. Lifting his foot, he stomped down on Percy's wrist, pinning him. He drove his opposite knee into the mercenary's chest, slamming his good fist into the man's nose. Blood poured from Percy's nostrils, splattering Jayden's pant leg.

The brawl was just one part of the larger battle taking place. Nate was still trying to reach Hayden, who had upturned his pack but was not finding whatever he searched so desperately for. Sully and Elena crouched behind an outcropping, shooting at the men who were miraculously remaining upright. Guardian was wearing down the Hell Hounds. She was painted in blood, one horn chipped, and a chunk missing from her tail. Nate saw her pick up a hound by its hind leg and hurl it across the chamber, narrowly missing Jayden and Percy.

To his right, Hayden let out a bark of laughter, having finally found what he was searching for. It was the cup.

"Crap," Nate whispered before charging into the fray once more. He hadn't thought Hayden was smart enough to bring the vessel. Drinking the Elixir was one thing, but drinking it from the cup would enhance the power in the water. It became a diving liquid in the cup, showing the future and the entirety of the universe.

Hayden was up and moving now too, faster than Nate had seen him move. They both charged the basin, somehow avoiding undiscerning gunfire and fighting. Nate was faster, reaching the basin before Hayden by half a second. He leveled his stolen pistol at the sick man.

"You really don't want to do this Hayden," Nate informed him, narrowing his eyes and shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"I'm fairly certain I do, Drake." The man sneered, shoulders tense, eyes darting to the Elixir.

Nate shook his head. "I get that you don't want to die, but you don't understand this power. This isn't just a Band-Aid."

Stepping forward until the gun pressed against his sternum, Hayden grinned at Nate. "I know more than you think, Nathan. I have seen the other side, faced Death already, and won. The Hounds followed me because I outsmarted their master, and I'll do it again today," he stated, voice flat.

Cup still in hand, Hayden swung at Nate. The object smashed into the side of Nate's head, making his vision blur. He squeezed the trigger of his weapon, but the shot went wide. Hayden took advantage of his disorientation and bashed the solid cup against Nate's skull twice more. Falling to his knees, his vision swam, going dark. Blood ran down the side of his face, his ears ringing as he struggled to stay conscious. Another blow send him face first into the stone floor, his gun falling from his hand and skittering across the uneven surface.


	12. Voices in the Dark

As Nate came to, the first thing he noticed was the quiet. Quiet could be very good or very bad, depending on the circumstances. His head was foggy, but he was sure his circumstances were not the greatest. When he tried to sit up, there was a hand on his chest, so he settled on opening his eyes.

"Elena?"

"Yes."

"What's going on?"

"The prelude to the end of the world."

"Well, that doesn't sound very good." Nate took Elena's hand and moved it from his chest as he sat up. "Why is it dark?"

"The light went out after Guardian went down," Sully replied to his left.

"Well I _know_ that's not good. What happened after he clocked me?" Nate asked, gingerly touching the side of his head. It was tacky with blood and hurt like a son of a bitch.

"The Guardian killed one of the mutts and seriously maimed the other before she got too weak to keep fighting. Jayden and the merc knocked each other out, the big guy took a shot to the shoulder, and Hayden is cowering by the basin. As far as I know everyone else is dead," explained Sully, his whispering voice loud in the dark.

"Wait." Nate scowled, eyes darting around though he couldn't see anything. "Hayden was right next to the Elixir _with_ the cup. How come he didn't do anything?"

"We aren't really sure what he did after it got dark," said Elena.

The scowl remained in place. None of this made sense. Pushing himself to his feet, he stepped forward. "Hayden?" he called, clenching his fists at his sides.

"What're you doin', Kid?" Sully hissed.

"Finding out what's going on," Nate replied.

"You should sit back down, Nathan," suggested a deep, growling voice.

"We both know I'm not big on doing what I'm told," Nate told the voice.

"Nor do you value the lives of your companions."

Nate scowled into the blackness. "Hayden, why don't you stop being a coward and come out of hiding?"

"Do you have a death wish today, Nate?" Sully demanded in a harsh whisper.

Nate waved his hand to silence the man even though he couldn't see the gesture. "C'mon, Hayden. All your goons are dead or unconscious so you don't have anyone to hide behind anymore. The dark won't keep you safe."

From the darkness before Nate, two small slits of light appeared. As they widened into orbs, he realized he was seeing eyes glowing with a soft golden light. The weak illumination cast heavy shadows over Hayden's face. Blood stains on his chin looked black, and his skin was white.

"Who says I'm hiding?"

An unseen force pushed down on Nate, shoving him to his knees. The air around him felt like it was vibrating, and his ear drums warbled.

"I was merely trying to accustom myself with my new power. I feel like I could make your heart explode with a simple thought. It's amazing, Nathan. I haven't felt this strong in years. Actually, I don't believe I've ever felt this strong," Hayden said, approaching Nate. His shoes clicked against the stone floor, echoing.

"Gonna go out on a limb here and assume you drank the Elixir," Nate grumbled through clenched teeth.

"Of course I did. I'd have been a foot not to! I was dying, Nathan. If you were in the same place, would you have passed up this amazing opportunity?"

The pressure let up on Nate and he was able to inhale deeply. "Yes, I would have, because I'm not about to damn the entire human race because of one decision."

"Then you are a fool, Nathan."

"Yeah well, gonna have to disagree with you there, pal." Nate struggled to his feet and took a few cautious, staggering steps forward. Hayden turned his back on Nate, the glow of his eyes diminishing. Nate wasn't sure how good the man's senses were right now, but he was going to use this to his advantage.

"So ornery. You are unbelievably similar to my sad excuse for a brother. Morals only get in the way." His voice dripped with disappointment.

Nate crept forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. "Morals make us human." He hoped Hayden was distracted and didn't notice his voice was getting closer.

"Do you really believe that? Listen to yourself for a moment, Nathan. You know how many people are killed, how many vile acts are committed daily. Would those people behave as such had they any morals?"

"Okay, yeah. There are people out there with _questionable_ morals, but if everyone acted that way, the world would go up in flames."

"But we wouldn't care!"

Nate had to admit the man had a point.

Hayden laughed maliciously at Nate's silence. The sound was too close. He only had once chance at this, and he had to make it count.

Counting down from three in his head, Nate launched himself toward the voice and hoped like hell he'd hit something that wasn't stone.

Hayden yelped as Nate's shoulder caught his side, their combined weight taking them both to the ground with a muted thud. They grappled briefly before Hayden swung an arm, knocking Nate away and sending him rolling across the uneven floor.

"Nathan..." Hayden's voice was changing as he spoke, the tone wavering eerily. "Do you really think you can stop me? I have the Elixir of Life, and you are but one man."

"Doesn't mean I can't give it a shot," he replied.

"But you can't even see where I am."

"I have other ways of finding you," growled Nate, pushing himself to his feet.

There was a bark of laughter from somewhere off to his left. "Like what? My voice?" The question came from his right. "Because that isn't very reliable, now is it?" The voice was behind him this time.

"Face it, Kid, you're outta your depth this time," Sully said, his voice behind Nate as well.

"You can't win, Nate," Elena added.

Nate frowned. "What?"

"This guy's got your number. There's no point in fighting," answered Sully.

"Give up," said Elena.

"What the hell?" Nate spun on his heel, turning in the direction he believed his friends to be.

There was a quiet groan nearby. "Don't listen, Drake. It's not them talking."

"Jayden? What's going on?"

"They were both out cold before the lights even went out. He's tricking you."

"He's lying, Nate. who are you really gonna believe? Your friends, or some kid you just met?" Sully questioned.

Nate shook his head. "I don't--"

"Come on now, Nathan. Are you really letting this confuse you? I thought you were smarter than that." With each sentence, Hayden's voice bounced around the room.

Four separate voices kept talking to him, conflicting with themselves and each other. Some statements sounded right, matching what he knew, but some were so out of touch he didn't know what to think. The voices rose and ebbed, whispering and screaming, demanding answers. It was too much. The voices clouded his mind and he couldn't focus.

The air was heavy again, vibrating around him.

Nate's knees hit the stone as he pressed his hands to his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. "Enough!" he yelled.

As Nate's voice echoed around the room, the cave flooded with light once again.


	13. Degeneration

The sudden, disorienting brightness made Nate's eyes water and burn. Lifting one hand, he pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyelids, then blinked away the spots in his vision.

"Make this little bitch stand down, Nathan. This is between you and me."

Nate turned toward the sound of Hayden's voice. It was hard not to physically recoil when he laid eyes on the man. The formerly ashen skin had taken on a ghostly pallor. Blood coated his mouth and chin, his shirt had torn in places, revealing pulsating pustules, and giving him the appearance of a bad movie monster. His eyes were the most unnerving part of his new look, however. The pupil and iris had vanished, replaced with swirling colors, and glowing with a bizarre inner light.

When he was able to pry his eyes away from Hayden, Nate saw Guardian was on her feet. Blood dripped from her many wounds, pooling on the floor under her feet. Her voice was weak as she hissed and snarled at Hayden. She wobbled unsteadily, her balance destroyed by a broken horn and a large chunk missing from her tail.

"Even if I _could_ call her off, why would I want to?" Nate asked, glancing between the pair. Their standoff was a little comical.

"Because I can make you watch as I put your friends through an unimaginable hell," Hayden growled in his odd, multi-toned voice.

"You don't know what they're capable of withstanding," replied Nate.

"Clearly not a little shoot-out," stated Hayden, his voice lilting with amusement.

Nate knew it was a taunt. He knew it was supposed to distract him. He couldn't help himself and glanced over his shoulder. What he saw made his throat close up. Blood splattered Elena's face, her eyes were closed, and she wasn't breathing. Her shirt was almost black from the open wound on her belly. Beside her, Sully was face-down in a pool of his own blood.

"How? I was just--" Nate's voice hitched in his throat and he nearly tripped over his own feet as he turned. "No."

"You were speaking to an illusion," Hayden informed Nate, delighted by his trickery.

Nate shook his head. "No. You shouldn't have gotten any powers from the Elixir." Clenching his hands, his blunt fingernails bit into the flesh of his palms.

"The power to kill? Or the power to play with your mind?" Hayden asked, his mouth twisting into a cruel smirk.

Snarling viciously, Guardian slashed at him, her claws catching a cluster of pus-filled boils and rending them open. Hayden howled as the rank green ooze splashed across his skin. The pain quickly turned to anger and he let out a deep snarl. The thin skin of his face blistered and cracked, darkness dripping from the wounds.

Nate used the distraction to his advantage, taking the chance to scoop a gun off the floor. He had no idea if bullets would work, but it was all he had. And enough anger to choke him to death.

Grabbing a magazine from one of the dead men, Nate paused before reloading. Guardian was growling low in her throat, her entire body pulsing. Light radiated from her as she began to expand. He was hearing her voice in his head again. She needed to protect him. Protect the goodness in him. He would use the Elixir for good, not bad. _Nathan has good heart_.

"Do you really think this will work with me, beast?" Hayden asked, bored. He narrowed his eyes at her, unimpressed by her transformation.

Silently watching, Nate reloaded his weapon. He wondered why Hayden wasn't moving, wasn't doing anything, but then he saw the patches of rot erupting on Guardian's scaly skin. As he stood there, watching, Guardian's true purpose hit him hard. She wasn't just the guardian of the Elixir, she was the Judge. She could tell who was good, and who was evil. People filled with evil had the power of death but rotted inside and out. People with good in their hearts were given the power of life and could see the universe.

Nate believed Guardian was mistaken this time. He didn't understand how she deemed him worthy of the 'good' status. Sure, he wasn't inherently evil, but the alignment scale didn't exactly tip toward good for him, either.

Hayden craned his neck to look up at Guardian. "Your flesh is going to rot away before you can even touch me."

Guardian opened her maw, letting out a roar which shook the entire cavern. Her breath was a gust of hot wind which smelled of decomposing meat.

Covering his face with one arm, Nate took aim at Hayden's head. For the first time since he was young, his hand shook while holding a weapon. The ground rumbled beneath his feet with Guardian's movements, but he knew it wasn't the cause of his quaking limbs.

"Go ahead, Nathan. Shoot me," taunted Hayden.

"That was the plan." Nate pulled the trigger. Then he pulled it again. And again. And again until the weapon ran dry. Not one shot hit the mark.

Hayden clicked his tongue and shook his head. Guardian took a swing with one massive clawed foot, but Hayden simply sidestepped the attack. "It's almost cute how pathetic you are," he said with a smirk. "I really ought to put you both out of your misery, but playing with you is so much more entertaining."

Most of the time Nate dealt with cocky assholes using sarcasm and jokes, but today he chose to remain silent. He wasn't thinking straight, his anger so strong he was shaking. He tossed his gun aside and charged at Hayden while Guardian roared, rearing back. Nate knew it wouldn't do any good, and this may be the time he ended up dead. He didn't care. He barely felt it when Hayden backhanded him and send him flying. When he rolled to a stop, he just picked himself up and charged the man again. Guardian swung at Hayden a second time as Nate crossed the cavern. Her foot caught him around the middle, knocking him to the floor. She put her foot on his torso, the tip of a talon grazing the papery skin of Hayden's throat.

"Good luck getting up from there," Nate snarled, sliding a few feet on the pebbly ground before stopping next to Guardian.

Hayden barked out laughter, making Guardian's talon pierce his skin. Dark, thick globules of blood bubbled from the wound.

"Bring them back," Nate hissed, looking down his nose at the man.

"Oh, Nathan. You know it doesn't work that way." Hayden sneered at Nate, cocky despite his position.

Clenching his jaw, Nate eyed the basin holding the Elixir. He could drink it himself and put a stop to this. He could tell Guardian to crush Hayden and just walk away, leaving his friends, and move on. He could, but he wouldn't

"You won't win, Nathan!" Hayden called as he jogged toward the basin. He grabbed at Guardian's giant foot as he yelled. Her scaly skin sizzled and bubbled under his touch, and the creature howled.

Nate's right leg erupted in burning pain and collapsed from under him. His knees hit the stone hard, forcing a curse from his lips. Working through the searing fire clawing at the inside of his leg, and the raw stabbing pain he felt each time the fabric of his jeans brushed his skin, Nate hauled himself up onto the edge of the basin. Every movement was a struggle, but with quivering arms, he held himself upright. All the strength in his arms was dedicated to keeping him off the floor, so he had to bring his face down to drink directly from the basin. It wasn't dignified, but it got the job done.

The ice cold liquid stung his nose and cheeks, numbing his throat as he drank. At first, he didn't feel any different. As he slumped to the ground, a fearful realization flashed through him; he may somehow be incompatible with the Elixir and end up dead like his friends.

A harsh, grating laugh echoed through the cavern and Nate raised his head to look at Hayden. The man's hands were still on Guardian's leg and her flesh was sliding off in places. She was howling and struggling to stay in her larger form while the man tortured her.

"It's like you aren't even trying!"

Nate's gaze shifted to the giant being. She was just standing there, looking back at him as though she was waiting for a command. As he stared up at her, an odd coolness seeped through him. The pain in his leg eased and he pushed himself to his feet, testing his weight on each leg before moving away from the basin. He straightened to his full height, relishing in the calm washing through his entire body.

"I just needed a bit of time. I think I can handle you now," Nate said, strolling across the chamber. Guardian trilled excitedly, kicking out with her injured leg and knocking Hayden back a few feet. Nate grinned.

Climbing to his feet and dusting himself off, Hayden returned the grin. "Ready to play with the big boys, Nathan?"

Nate wrinkled up his nose. "Really?"

Hayden shrugged. "Guess not," he sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets and stomping one foot on the rocky floor. A loud crack resonated through the air as the ground split open, a long fissure racing toward Nate. He held his ground.

"Every time I get involved with your family, everything goes to hell. I really should know better by now," growled Nate, sliding his foot forward to stop the fissure before leaping toward Guardian. He had his own strange powers now it seemed, but he knew he would have to work with her to stop Hayden.

"Honestly Nathan, you're only here by accident! If Jayden wasn't an incompetent fool, you wouldn't be involved. Now that you are, I'll have to dispose of you." Removing one hand from his pocket, he snapped his fingers. A quake rocked the cavern, chunks of stone falling from the high ceiling. A piece the size of a large dog glanced off Guardian's haunch, but she didn't even flinch.

"I'm sick of talking in circles!" Nate hollered back, standing on Guardian's shoulder. He crouched, putting his hands on her scales as a deep scowl creased his brow. Her wounds began to close up and she trilled again.

Rearing back and twisting around in the cramped space, she swept her tail across the room. One of the spikes adorning the appendage caught the back of Hayden's leg, slicing through the tendons behind his knee. A sharp scream tore from his throat as he hit the ground on one knee. Blood gushed from the wound, creating a viscous black puddle on the stone. Snarling, he slammed his fists onto the rock beneath him. Another tremor rattled the cavern, followed by a deafening crack. The wall split open.

"I'm not afraid to bring this place down on our heads, Nathan! After all, you can't kill Death!" Getting back to his feet, Hayden grabbed Guardian's newly regenerated tail with both hands. She tried to pull against him, but his grip was too strong. Smoke rose in the air as her flesh sizzled and bubbled until it melted through completely.

Nate had enough of Hayden's gloating. The man enjoyed the sound of his own voice far too much.

Shaking his head, Nate hopped effortlessly onto one of Guardian's horns. He could feel her inside his head, trying to tell him what needed to be done. The sound of her thoughts was being muddled by the overflow of images flooding his mind. He could see things playing out like memories that weren't his. It felt like watching a weird foreign movie backward with the sound off. All the lore told him the Cup was needed for divination, but it seemed the lore may have been wrong. Having all of time in his head was overwhelming, to say the least.

If he could just focus on one thing, he could learn what he needed to do. Inhaling deeply, he stared down at the bodies of his friends.

"I'm gonna need your help for this," he whispered to Guardian as he focused on Hayden, who merrily caused trenches in the floor and cracks in the walls. Rubble rained down on their heads and Nate feared the entire cave network would collapse on top of them.

As Nate tried to think, Guardian's color shifted. Her angry red hue grew continuously lighter until she glowed bright white.

Hayden stopped his destruction to stare, slack jawed, at Nate.

The images sharpened into stark clarity and Nate suddenly felt light and unburdened. A smirk curved his lips. "You said I couldn't kill Death. You're right. But you know what I _can_ do, Hayden?"

Guardian opened her jaws wide.

"I can cure it."

In place of the noxious spit she used as a defense, a ball of light shot from Guardian's maw. It caught Hayden in the chest, throwing him a few feet.

"I just found the best amplifier ever," raved Nate, patting Guardian. He wondered if she had any more hidden abilities.

Hayden wobbled unsteadily, pushing himself to his feet again. His appearance had changed to something cleaner and more full of life.

Nate raised his eyebrows. "Huh."

"What the hell was that?" wheezed Hayden, putting his hands on a lichen covered boulder to steady himself. The plant life shriveled and died.

Nate shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. But you have to admit, it was pretty cool. What do you say we try it again?"

Before they could fire another orb, another chunk of rock fell from above. It struck the horn Nate stood on, knocking his sideways. He slipped, yanking Guardian's head as he scrambled for purchase. Her shot went wide, the ball of energy hitting the wall and sealing a split in the stone.

Swinging his legs, Nate hoisted himself back onto his perch. He watched Hayden sprint across the small amount of open space to one of the dead mercenaries. Leaning over the dead man, he put his blistered hands on the man's bloodied shirt. Closing his eyes, Hayden whispered a few words. The man's skin bubbled and blistered as he opened his vacant eyes. With heavy, clumsy movements, he got to his feet and picked up a discarded gun. There was no life or intelligence in his eyes as he fired at Nate.

Nate didn't lose focus despite the rain of gunfire. The shots were all over the place, occasionally coming within a few inches of his cheek. Hayden tried to find cover as the dead man fired his weapon, though this time he had nowhere to hide. Another ball of energy shot from Guardian's fanged jaw, striking Hayden between the shoulders.

Nate hissed a breath between his teeth. "Bet that felt great."

With a low groan, Hayden pushed himself to his knees. "This shouldn't be possible."

Nate shrugged. "Yeah, well a lot of impossible things have been happening today. Deal with it."

With his hands on his thighs, Hayden took a few deep breaths before getting to his feet again. Slowly, he faced Nate. His skin was a healthy color, his eyes alert and human again, and all traces of his illness gone.

"How is it I'm healthier than I've ever been, yet I feel weaker than I did this afternoon?" Hayden wondered, eyes on Nate.

"Because you played with power beyond your control."

Guardian fired again. The glowing ball of energy slammed into Hayden's chest and he crumpled to the ground, falling still and silent.


	14. Time to Go

Nate let out a long, slow breath as adrenaline drained from his body. Guardian transformed beneath him and he felt like he was falling in slow motion. As she returned to her humanoid state, he waited patiently, but as soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran to where Sully and Elena's bodies lie.

Guardian chortled behind him and he spared her a glance as he knelt between his friends.

"Let's hope this works," he grumbled, gently placing his hands on their foreheads. Closing his eyes and concentrating hard, Nate felt the energy flow through him. It tingled and sparked, making him light-headed, and his heart beat too fast. He thought it might burst from working so hard. No. It wasn't just his heart. Two other beats overlapped his own, becoming distinct as they grew stronger. Soon they separated from him and moved to the lifeless bodies next to him. Once the new heart beats settled and the pair started breathing, Nate repeated the process on Jayden.

Exhaustion washed over him when he finished, and he sat back on the rocky floor, struggling to keep his eyes open as he waited for them to regain consciousness. Guardian sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder as a content rumble emanated from her. The near-purr vibrated him to the core, but he didn't mind. It was relaxing and made sleep seem like the best idea in the universe. Every ounce of his power had dissipated and he was happy to see it go. All he wanted was Elena and Sully back.

As he waited, an odd prickling sensation tickled the back of his neck. Guardian didn't think anything was out of the ordinary, just continued purring next to him. He couldn't seem to shake the unease tightening his chest though.

"Just remnants of adrenaline," he told himself, scrubbing a hand over his face. Forcing his eyes open again, he saw his friends begin to stir. A tired smile curved his mouth as Sully groaned.

"What the hell happened?" the old man asked, reaching up to touch the sticky dry blood coating his face and hair.

"This is a lot of blood," Elena added as she sat up, grimacing at the state of her shirt.

Guardian trilled happily and launched herself at Sully. She squeezed him tightly, her tongue snaking out to taste the blood on his skin.

Nate stifled a yawn. "Short version is Hayden killed you and I brought you back. I'll give you the long version after I have a nap," he told them, closing his eyes. He wanted to hug the pair, but he couldn't even lift his arms. The prickling on his neck was still irritating him as well.

"Excuse me? What the hell does that mean, Kid?" Sully demanded, ignoring Guardian.

"You can't just say something like that and go to sleep!" Elena admonished, eyes wide.

"Sure I can," he replied, lying down on the rocky ground.

Next to Elena, Jayden sat up with a snort. His eyes were wide, and his hand instantly found the gun next to him.

"It's okay, the threat is gone," Nate assured him.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Kid."

"Huh?" Nate pried his eyes open again, but before he could muster the energy to sit up, he heard the scrape of metal on stone, followed by an ear-splitting bang.

"What the crap!" Nate jolted upright and twisted around. Lying flat on his back a few feet away was Hayden. There was now a neat little hole in the middle of his forehead and an awful mess on the ground beneath him. Nate raised his eyebrows, slowly turning back to face the others.

"Did you just shoot your brother in the head?" he inquired.

Jayden swallowed hard, still clutching the gun in his hands. "Yup."

"I guess he reanimated, then..."

"Looks like."

"Thanks."

Calming down, Jayden set the weapon on the ground beside him. "Surprisingly, I don't even feel bad.

"He wasn't exactly himself anymore," Nate told him.

"Probably hadn't been for some time," Elena added.

Jayden pursed his lips, scowling at the body of his brother. "I always knew I'd end up putting a bullet in him."

"So, what are you going to tell your old man?" Sully wanted to know.

Jayden shrugged, meeting Sully's eyes. "I don't think I'll tell him anything. Hayden didn't exactly keep us up to date on his activities. Dad will probably just think he had some sort of accident."

The team fell silent for a few minutes, listening to Guardian's excited chattering as she moved between them. Elena was the first to move.

"Let's get out of here. I really need a shower," she said, climbing to her feet.

"What are we going to do with our new friend here?" Sully asked, finally turning his attention to Guardian. She tipped her head to one side and trilled at him before latching onto Nate once again. She chirped in his ear and gave him a proper hug. He returned the embrace.

"She has to stay behind. She knows she has to," Nate told the others after letting her go. "Someone needs to protect the Elixir, after all."

Elena frowned. "But no one knows it's here."

"Someone could find it by accident," Jayden pointed out.

"Either way, it's her job and she has to stay. She says she'll be okay."

Sully smiled at the lizard woman. "Thanks for keeping him safe, " he said to her.

Guardian barred her fangs in some sort of grin and trilled happily. She waved at them, chattering and chortling her farewell. They said their goodbyes to her, hesitantly leaving her behind in the partially destroyed cavern.

Leading them through the chambers, Nate took the group back to the staircase at the entrance. They climbed in silence, and once they were above ground again, Nate felt so much better. The forest was quiet, relaxing after everything they had been through.

"So," Jayden breathed as they walked, "I've done your thing. Now it's your turn to do mine."

Nate froze, staring at the kid. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

Grinning, Jayden shook his head, disrupting the rubble in his hair. "Not even a little. I saved your life. You owe me."

"You're the reason I almost died in the first place!" complained Nate.

"That's a pretty weak argument considering the three of us actually _did_ die," Sully teased.

"He's right, Nate," agreed Elena.

Sighing heavily, Nate hung his head. "So glad you guys are on my side."

"You brought this on yourself," laughed Jayden.

"I should just go back and live with Guardian. At least she appreciates me." Nate frowned at the dead foliage as they made their way back through the forest. His friends laughed, teasing him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

This had been too close a call. Nate had no doubt the sight of Sully and Elena's lifeless bodies would haunt his dreams for a long time to come. But once again, miraculously, they all pulled through and they discovered something amazing. One day his luck would run out, but he was glad it hadn't been today.

"Hey, Nate?"

He raised his head at the sound of Elena's voice. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

Falling into step next to the woman, Nate hooked his arm around her shoulders. He watched Sully and Jayden deep in some heated argument a few steps ahead before looking at her. "Yeah. I'm good."

Maybe it was his expression, or his tone of voice, or the shaking hand on her shoulder, but Elena just nodded and accepted his answer. She slid her arm around his waist and walked silently next to him.

One day his luck would run out, but he was so glad it hadn't been today.


End file.
